Bonfire Night!

We're proud to be supporting the Rotary Club or Ripon Rowels by sponsoring the bonfire at Ripon Racecourse on the 4th November.

Gates open at 6pm

Entertainment includes:-

Ripon Grammar School Big Band Sound

Children's entertainment

Bonfire at 7pm

Fireworks at 7.30pm

We look forward to seeing friends and colleagues on the night.

Astra Atlantis emergence profiles

We're back on the road again with Astra Tech and the Atlantis Live! roadshow 2011.

Something we are hearing from people is that Atlantis can't do 'fluted' emergence profiles?

But it can!

I think that where most of the problems come in is that the Atlantis system is treated as a hands off system by many new users, this is not the way to get the very best from the Atlantis system.

By Hands off I mean that many technicians are not checking the 2D design email, let alone opening the 3D viewer or Editor interface, and are instead completely trusting the whole design to a technician in the Atlantis production centre.

By doing so the technician misses the opportunity to have the kind of input that tailors the abutment designs to match their surgeons specific preferences, the very service that makes the relationship between surgeons and their technicians so important.

Astra Tech have provided a fantastic suite of viewer and editor tools to allow the technician to completely customise their abutment design.

We have complete control of exactly how the final Atlantis abutment will look, which is exactly the same as any other custom abutment we would make in the laboratory.

The trick is simply knowing how to use the tools properly.

If you look at the images below you will see how we have completely dictated the profile of the abutments emergence and just how much compensation we have made to the position of the abutment itself.

Astra Atlantis provide the very best CAD/CAM custom abutment solutions for multiple implant platforms that we have ever used!

To pick up the tips and tricks for getting the best out of Astra Atlantis, come and see us on the roadshow

Click here for dates and booking

Astra Atlantis Live! 2011

Astra Atlantis Live! UK 2011

We are proud to be supporting Astra Tech on their Atlantis Live! evening events. Steve will be presenting on the Astra Atlantis roadshow alongside Dr Tim Doswell, one of the UK's most experienced users of the Atlantis abutments system.

Together they will be on hand to explain the clinical and laboratory benefits of these fantastic abutments.

As well as covering the already established benefits of the Atlantis abutment system, they will be presenting new ways to use the options that Atlantis provides and also highlight some of the new products and services that Atlantis will be rolling out this year!

The Venues and Dates are:-

Plymouth 6th October

Cardiff 20th October

Novotel Cardiff Centre
Schooner Way, Atlantis Wharf, Cardiff. CF10 4RT

Liverpool 17th November

Newcastle 24th November

Live Webinar 1st December

For more information you can download the Atlantis Live 2011 flyer here or book by emailing lydia.farrow@astratech.com

These evenings are complimentary and will also provide 1.5 hours CPD.

For more details on the current benefits of the Astra Atlantis system you can visit our dedicated Atlantis abutments Page

Latest Newsletter

It's been a busy 12 months

Since our last update we have gone fully digital, meaning we can now go direct from an oral scan to the final restoration without ever having poured a model !

Along with this we have talked extensively for AstraTech, The ADi, BIDST and The Dentistry Show on CAD/CAM technology and the benefits it can bring to surgeons and their patients.

This edition of our newsletter is loaded with CAD/CAM content simply because it has opened up so many unique advantages to our clients and at the same time saved money, a true win/win situation.

To compliment all our existing CAD/CAM solutions we have recently invested in the Straumann iTero lab software (for the aqcusition of digital impressions direct from the practice) and Dental Wings (to allow us access to most of the very finest CAD design and open platform milling centres around the world) This latest acquisition is in addition to all our existing digital systems, meaning we can accept digital files from any oral scanner available in the UK and have any type of CAD/CAM restoration made.

In short this has meant that we can offer the very best restorations to our surgeons which has also saved them thousands of pounds in needless extra componentry and expensive alloy, regardless of the systems they use.

Astra Atlantis

As with all the other CAD/CAM solutions we have introduced for our clients, Astra Atlantis has provided a fantastic option for restoring implant cases AND saved money on every case. From the end of Q3 we will also be able to provide this fantastic solution on Camlog implants!

As one of the first Laboratories in the UK to use Atlantis we were in an excellent position to make the switch over to producing these implant abutments using the new Dental Wings system as soon as it went live in the UK earlier this year. This has given our technicians much more control over the design of these fantastic abutments, which will ensure you always get the best custom solution for your implant restorations.

We are now one of, if not the biggest single laboratory producer of these abutments, which is testament to the dedication and skill of our technical team who tailor this system to fit each of our clients needs exactly. Our depth of knowledge with this system and the feedback from the very successful Atlantis Live! 2010 tour has also meant that we have been asked to lecture for Astra Tech again this year at their UK Symposium.

Dates for the diary

Audi Quattro Rooms London

This years Astra Tech Symposium will be held at the Audi Quattro Rooms London on the 16th September 2011 and will cover the latest developments in the Astra Tech system including the new TX profile implants & Astra Atlantis update (Crown abutment, 3D editor demo, Camlog interface & core file) which will highlight all the possibilities of these fantastic systems, especially when used in combination!

For more details CLICK HERE or contact your local Astra Tech representative

Dentistry Show 2012

We've booked a stand for 2nd and 3rd March at The Dentistry Show 2012. After talking at last years show we were so impressed with what was on offer that we decided to jump in and have a presence at next year's show!

Come along and see first hand what the lab has to offer you as a surgical partner, including the latest on CAD/CAM restorations, Smile Design planning and implant support on complex implant restorations.


Gearing up for the Great North Run

Many of you will already know Marc Tocher as one of our longest serving and highly skilled ceramists but many will be unaware that he is also a keen runner who has previously competed in many events, including the local Leeds Abbey Dash.

Marc has decided to complete The Great North Run in aid of Cancer Research UK. Anyone who's run will know this is a hard slog and well worth supporting him in his efforts.

We'd like to thank many of our surgical partners who have already donated and offered support to Marc. If you would like to donate or offer words of encouragement, all this can be done by visiting Marc's Just Giving Page




A note from our Directors

So, we've obviously been busy and investing in the latest technology but this is not for personal kudos. It's to ensure we offer the very best to our clients, so that hopefully you can rest assured that you are always getting the best products, support, advice and up to date information on the latest trends available in restorative dentistry.

Ambridge Ceramics is committed to creating dental solutions that improve the experienece of both the patient and the surgeon. We value our surgical and laboratory partners, without your help and support we simply wouldn't be here.

We want to get even better at what we do though, and to do this we need to hear from loyal customers like you! How are we doing? what do you like and what could we do better? Follow us on Twitter at @ambridgeceramic and let us know what you think about our products and service.

Your feedback makes us better.


Thank-you for your continued support

Mark Ambridge & Angela Kelly

Latest article on Dentinal Tubules

In Mark's latest article he discusses ways in which surgeons can get the best from their laboratory.

Mark Ambridge

Dentinal Tubules expert

Getting the most from your laboratory & Creating a great first impression!

Topics that will be covered in this article :

1. Information overload
2. Impression taking
3. Diagnostics
4. Try-in
5. Feedback
6. Work protocol

Information Overload.

Actually there’s no such thing! You can never give the technician enough information about the patient, don't forget you have met, and know the patient, we, usually have not.

Consider sending pre-op and provisionalised images, full-face smiling, close ups with cheeks retracted, profiles etc.

Fill in the lab card fully, i.e. age and sex of patient is very important to style of finished work.

Patients' expectations & what they really want to achieve.

Meeting the patient if possible is also invaluable for the outcome, it also gives the patient a feeling of importance and they tend to talk more openly to the person in the ‘back room’?

We can also promote other procedures like teeth bleaching, implants and additional veneers, etc. procedures that could improve the overall restorative results.

Take good impressions: Obvious you might think, but, when using a silicone based do you:

1. Use non-perforated, metal or rigid plastic trays or custom made special trays (perforated trays are for alginate only)
2. Make sure trays are the correct arch size to prevent touching other teeth around the arch.
3. Always use tray adhesive (prevents ‘lifting’ distortion)
4. Use a stable silicone impression material (no shrinkage), NOT alginate unless cast straight away (within 10 mins.)
5. If you mix putty by hand wear polythene, NOT latex gloves (latex can affect setting)
6. Use a stopwatch or timer to allow the material to set properly (see instruction manual for exact times)
7. Use same impression material for both impressions. There's no point providing a fantastic impression for the working model and then to produce something of inferior accuracy for the opposing/bite model.
8. Make sure they are cleaned and disinfected (by HSE/HMRA/CQC instructions)
9. Make sure it's packaged properly ready for transportation, loosely packed in a ‘gripseal’ lab bag inside a box (enclose some damp tissues, not soaking wet as alginate can absorb and expand, in the bag if alginate was used to prevent dehydration).
10. Make sure you send it to a good lab which is capable of understanding your requirements

for an excellent and indepth article by Espe on ‘Making Better Impressions’ please go to:

http://www.ambridgeceramics.co.uk/guide/

Diagnostics

Creating bridgework, especially interiorly can be virtually impossible to ‘get right' when we don't know where the teeth should be. Consider starting those missing teeth cases with a diagnostic wax-up, from that with a simple stent or alginate you can make good looking provisionals which in turn can be assessed by the patient and you and, when happy with the shape and position an impression can be taken and sent with the work to give the technician a Patient Approved Provisional (PAP) model which they can matrix and copy for correct tooth position.

This technique is widely used in implantology where often the bone and soft tissue loss means the final teeth would be ‘floating' in space without the addition of extra bone in surgery or ‘pink' gum on the restoration.

Try-in

Again when doing a medium to large anterior case or difficult occlusion case or even that difficult to match central consider a ‘Bisque' try-in, (bisque is the pre glazed state of ceramic) so being rough this will enable you to adjust the ceramic easily or mark it where it needs adding or reducing.

If you want to add to reshape please use wax not composite as this leaves an invisible residue that can affect the firing of ceramic.

Feedback

Just as important but often forgotten about, the lab technician will often put his or her ‘all’ into designing and making a case look, what they consider to be correct. As we discussed before they may never have met, seen or ever will meet or see the patient, you will make their day by letting them know on a regular basis the end result of a case however complex and whatever the result, good bad or mediocre. The good will help to keep up morale, the bad will help to teach, and help improve the way the technician works and eventually there won't be so many mediocre and bad results, they will all be great!

Lab work protocol

Check your work returns schedule daily, i.e. the day before the appointment and have a returns diary. It's no good phoning the lab 1 hr. before the appointment asking where the lab work is only to find the lab card return date doesn't match the patients appointment.

Have a specific place for in and out work and have two people responsible for logging it in and out.

Benefits to you and your patients…(AKA the cheesy bit)!

Using our guide to impression taking and workflow organisation will provide the following benefits to you and your patients:

• Provides a more accurate detail of the mouth
• Cuts out any chance of errors
• Ease of fit of work
• Less chair time so more you time
• Less chair time ‘stress’ for the patient
• Results – great fitting, fantastic looking restorations and patients who will love you all the more and even refer their rich, paying friends!

With regards to impressions, you could always go fully digital!? We’ll be holding an open evening giving surgeons the chance to get hands on with the new fully digital system provided by iTero at the lab on the 6^th April

More information and booking available here: http://www.ambridgeceramics.co.uk/news/article/itero_evening

Thank you

R M Ambridge

To read any of our other articles in full click on the link below, then on the site choose Mark Ambridge or Steve Campbell to see the articles written from our lab.

Dentinal Tubules

Dentinal Tubules is a free online community for everyone involved in dentistry, if you haven't become a member already do it today and see why it's the fastest growing dental community in the UK

DAMAS and it's relevance to the CQC

During a recent discussion regarding all the latest requirements by the CQC for our surgery partners it became apparent that as a DAMAS laboratory we already had all the required information in place to provide our clients with complete peace of mind regarding compliance of the restorations we provide.

How so?



As a DAMAS laboratory our compliance with MDD & MDR is independently validated so our clients can rest assured that everything that needs to be done from the labs point of view is in place and being independently audited every year to ensure continued compliance.



USING A DAMAS REGISTERED LAB

What does this mean for you, the dentist?

•The laboratory undergoes a yearly site audit.

•The laboratory’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) registration is verified.

•The laboratory’s dental technicians are checked and verified as registered with the General Dental Council.

•Patient contact materials are verified as CE Marked and fit for their intended purpose.

•The laboratory’s equipment maintenance processes are validated as appropriate.

•The laboratory’s post market surveillance and vigilance procedures are inspected and verified as complying with the law.

•Purchasing and verification of purchase products to enable traceability of materials is inspected and verified to ensure recalling of devices is possible – should this be necessary.

•Contract review and final inspection of appliances is audited to ensure compliance with the dentist’s original prescription.

•Statement and labelling of appliances including issuing the patient statement is verified as complying with the Medical Devices Directive.

•Laboratory sub-contractors are verified as fit for the purpose they are intended for.

•Staff training and competences are checked as verified as undertaken by the laboratory.



DAMAS laboratories undergo yearly audits to gain certification to DAMAS to prove compliance with the Medical Devices Directive (MDD) and the Medical Devices Regulations (MDR) which is a legal requirement within Europe for manufacturers of custom made medical devices.



DAMAS Certified laboratories offer reassurance where other can’t because their compliance with the MDD & MDR is independently validated.



For more information on DAMAS visit www.damas.co.uk



A downloadable pdf of the DAMAS benefits is also available here

Invitation to an evening of Digital Dentistry!

We were proud to be one of the first Laboratories in the UK to be able to accept digital impressions through the Cerec Connect system and now we are taking our commitment to Digital Dentistry further by expanding the systems we support & offering our surgeons the opportunity to look at the next generation of digital impression systems.

The system is iTero, Brought to us in the UK by Straumann and using the latest imaging technology to produce digital impressions, even on implant restorations!

On the evening we will showcase the future of impressions and restorative design using the iTero Digital impression system and the Straumann CAD/CAM system we will use to support it in the laboratory.

Benefits to you:

• More efficient use of chair time and reduced costs
• Better impressions which result in shorter fitting appointment times
• Remakes reduced from 5% to 0.5%
• Re-impressions eliminated

iTero Advantages

• Improves the profitability of the Dental Practice
• Improves patient comfort
• Improves the quality of care provided
• Provides a full choice of restorations using Straumann CAD/CAM

Reserve your place

Along with the space reserved for some of our own surgeons we'd like to tale the opportunity to open the invitations to anyone who is interested in looking at this exciting system. We will do our best to ensure you get a place but if we do run out of places on this evening and there is strong interest I'm sure we will be able to arrange another.

This system is already getting great feedback from the current surgeons and technicians using it so why not take the opportunity to see and try this system while it's local to you?

Details:

6th April 2011

6.30 - 8.30

Ambridge Ceramics Ltd, The Coach House,

Phoenix Business Centre, Low Mill Road,

Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 1NS

1.5 hours CPD

To reserve your place either:

email: info@ambridgeceramics.com

Phone: 01765 607347

The home of Digital Dentistry

ADI Yorkshire Study Club

We're also presenting at the ADI Yorkshire study club!

ADI Yorkshire study club

We're very proud to have been asked to present to the ADI Yorkshire study club on CAD/CAM implant restorative options.

We have been a member of the ADI for a long time and regularly attended these study clubs. The quality of the presentations is always very high and we have come away with some fantastic insights into implant dentistry. The other great thing about the ADI study clubs is that they always have a good mix of surgeons, nurses & technicians which makes it a great platform to share ideas across the whole dental team.

So naturally it's very important for us to keep these high standards and present on a topic that's worthy of attention.

We'll be covering the advances that CAD/CAM and digital dentistry, along with some of the system we use now which are delivering superior results to traditional laboratory methods. We'll cover some of the advances made by Atlantis , Biomet, Sirona & Nobel Biocare among many others.

Come along and see us under great pressure then let us know what you think of our topic and content on the night!

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Yorkshire Study Club - 11 May 2011

Digital Dentistry - What are we missing?
Presented by: Mark Ambridge RDT & Steven Campbell RDT
Date: 11 May 2011
Time: 1900 Refreshments 1930 Lecture
Location: Cedar Court Hotel Wakefield, (J39 M1), Denby Dale Road, Calder Grove, Wakefield, Yorkshire, WF4 3QZ
Please book by: 03 May 2011

Synopsis: In dental technology we now have many more restorative options than have previously been available, but many surgeons and technicians are still not aware of how readily available or accessible this technology is. We will look at all of the clinical benefits of moving over to digital workflows and CAD/CAM restorations. We will also highlight the many systems and techniques, which can be adopted immediately without incurring any financial burden or disruption to your daily practice.

Educational Aims: To understand the benefits of using digital workflows and CAD/CAM systems in your surgery/laboratory to provide superior implant restorations for your patients.

Educational Objectives: To look at the digital solutions and CAD/CAM systems available in the marketplace today, along with many of the new developments which will be widely available in the near future. To understand how we can use these systems today to improve the quality of the restorations we deliver to our patients.

For booking and more info click here

The Dentistry Show

We're presenting at The Dentistry Show!

We're delighted to announce that we have been asked to speak at The Dentistry Show on Saturday 5th March at 3pm in the Technicians programme.

There's a fantastic line up of speakers on both days and it's an honour for us to join the other well respected technicians in presenting ideas and innovations that are transforming dental technology in the UK

Come along and see why CAD/CAM restorations are making it possible to offer our patients more for less.

In the dental laboratory today, we have many more restorative options than have previously been available, but many surgeons and technicians are still not aware of how readily available or accessible this technology is. We will look at the clinical benefits of moving over to CAD/CAM produced restorations and will also highlight some of the many systems and techniques available.

We will also show how these can be adopted immediately without incurring any financial burden and minimal disruption to your daily practice.

To see some of these advances that our surgeons already benefit from jump to our services page

Dentinal Tubules

Dentinal Tubules catch up

For anyone who is not familiar with Dentinal Tubules, it is quickly becoming THE dental community site for keeping up to date with the latest news and views on the topics that really matter in dentistry today.

Membership is free, the forums are always active with very informative topics and sometimes a more casual opinion on some of the current topics that affect us every day in dentistry.

Dentinal Tubules is open to anyone who is involved the dental profession which leads to a great mix of clinical articles along with fantastic pieces on business coaching and motivation by very well respected authors such as Chris Barrow and Kevin Rose.

We were very fortunate to be approached by Dhru Shah in May 2010 with a request to supply articles which showed the latest developments and opinions from a laboratory view.

We published our first pieces in July 2010 and since then the feedback has been fantastic!

If you are involved in dentistry in any way we would encourage you to tap into the fantastic resource of information and support that is available in the active dental community within Dentinal Tubules.

We have used this opportunity to share the advances and instant benefits which can be achieved by switching to CAD/CAM dentistry by using systems such as Atlantis along with many of the other ideas and innovations which are changing dental technology and services which your laboratory can offer you.

If you missed our articles then they are available here (our articles are under the authors Mark Ambridge & Steven Campbell) along with other articles in the expert columns.

At Ambridge Ceramics we've always been passionate about learning and sharing ideas to improve the services we offer to our patients and Dentinal Tubules does a great job on both these fronts by providing fantastic articles and active forums where the latest ideas can be thrashed out by the passionate members Dhru has attracted to his site.

If you're not a member, join up now because you're missing out.