Working with dental laboratories remotely: a guide for dentists

A remote lab relationship is not a downgrade from the lab down the street — it is a different operating model. Done well, it gives you access to specialists you would never find locally. Here is how to make it work.

Everything lives in the case workspace

The foundation of remote work is a single place where scans, photos, the prescription, messages and the final design all live together. On LabMatch, each enquiry becomes a private workspace accessible only to you and the laboratory. That structure replaces the courier slip, the email chain and the shared drive folder.

Photographs matter more at a distance

A local technician can pop by to check a shade; a remote one cannot. Send shade photos with a shade tab in frame, plus retracted and smile photos for anterior work. Ten minutes of photography prevents the most expensive remakes.

Agree the checkpoints

For multi-unit or aesthetic cases, agree intermediate checkpoints: design proposal, then final. Reviewing a design file before production costs nothing; remaking a milled crown does.

Payments and protection

Paying through the platform protects both sides. On LabMatch the dentist pays the quoted amount when the design is delivered, the payment unlocks the download, and the lab receives 90% of the quote — the platform keeps a 10% commission. There are no subscriptions or listing fees for either side.