Hey, Voices of the Bench community, Jessica Love here, giving me a shout out from Utah. As many of you know, I am passionate about creating natural-looking, beautiful smiles, and I also believe in simplifying systems without compromising on aesthetics. I am honored to be part of Ivoclar's development team to bring you a new stain and glaze system with structure paste. IPSEmax CeramArt. With this system, you can create beautiful works of art with depth and color in as little as one firing. Join us as we continue to innovate, simplify, and create meaningful change, one smile at a time. Let me ask you something. When it comes to digital dentures, what's actually harder, the design or the manufacturing?
Interesting. I'm going to go with manufacturing. Actually, hands down, every time. Designs got pretty streamlined. We all know how to do that. But once you hit production, that's where things can go sideways.
So yeah, too much variability in the results, is that right?
Exactly. Which is why I've been pretty intrigued by the Elevate Denture solution.
Whoa, that sounds fancy. Do tell.
It's basically a fully dialed denture workflow built from a collaboration between Roland, Ivoclar, and Follow Me. So you've got the machine, the materials, and the cam all working together.
Wow. That sounds way more cohesive than most solutions. Do you not agree?
I mean, that's the f***ing idea. It's designed specifically for Ivotion monolithic dentures and the oversized two-step workflow, all running on DG-shaped mills with Hyperdent behind the scenes.
All right, so instead of piecing together a workflow yourself, it's already been tested and optimized.
Exactly. Why you got to be messing around doing it yourself? You're getting fully validated milling strategies, more predictable results, and none of that trial and error.
I can totally get behind that, you guys, especially for labs trying to grow denture productions without adding the crazy chaos that comes along with it.
Do you not like chaos?
No, not really.
It's not just about milling dentures, it's about making them reliable with extremely high quality over and over and over again.
Which let's be honest, that's actually the hard part.
Yeah, it is. It's extremely hard.
So I got it. So how do people learn more about adding these capabilities to their Rolland Mills?
They can start by visiting rollanddga.com forward slash elevate.
All right, guys, that's easy enough. Go check it out.
It sounds amazing. Welcome to Voices from the Bench, a dental laboratory podcast. Send us an e-mail at info at voicesfromthebench.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Greetings and welcome to episode 417 of Voices from the Bench. My name is Elvis.
And my name is Bill Barber.
Still, Barbara, how the hell are you? I'm good.
Saturday morning. Beautiful here in Clearwater, Florida. I'm going for a run after we wrap up and life is good. How about you?
Same. Life is good. Weather's good. Nice running weather. But I actually, I have a confession to make. I goofed up.
I know. And you never do that.
No, it's really, it hit me hard. We missed our 8th year anniversary last week. Since we do an episode every week, so there's 52 weeks a year, it's pretty easy to know that whatever episode number you're on divided by 52, if it's an even number, we've hit the year mark. And for seven straight years, we did this episode with our friend Renata from the New York Dental Technology School. all because she was our very first guest.
I like traditions. I think that's pretty awesome.
I know, but I goofed between life and work and just busyness and travel. It just passed by. And I apologize to Renata. I apologize to our listeners. I missed it. And we'll definitely make it up to her. And we're still going to celebrate another year soon. I promise. I just, I dropped the ball and I have nothing else to say.
And she's bringing a few folks with her. She's bringing a couple awesome people. We'll make it up. Don't worry. Don't put all that pressure on yourself. My God.
I figure everyone is just like. Elvis, you missed it and just they're just hating me and I'm.
Just in your head.
I know.
Shut that voice down.
I know.
I give you promotion.
We'll make it up and we'll still celebrate our eight years, believe it or not, eight years. I believe it.
And we hope to see everybody in a few weeks at the DLAT conference. They've got amazing people, fun events, fill a weekend where we are going to be recording all weekend. So come join us April 9th to 11th in Dallas. Head over to dlat.org to learn more and to register. I think they're having like a 20s party one night. I was looking at dresses.
Yeah, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. They're going to have like a casino 20s theme. And don't forget the band made-up of dental technicians. I'm excited. Right on.
I know you're going to be looking dapper.
I'm going to do my best.
Amazon, baby.
Yeah, I went through this at the lab fest. Don't buy the first thing you see because everybody will be wearing that. Scroll down a few.
Okay, good, advice.
Yeah, but also because you've been bugging the hell out of me.
I just saw it. I just saw it.
Yeah, shirts are finally and officially back. Again, life and work. It's hard to find the time, but we're going to do a new twist to an old design. We used to have one that said, dare to say no to bad impressions. It's now time to dare to say no to bad dental impressions.
Or bad scans. What is it? Digital impressions.
What did I put on there? I just wrote.
Do you not know what you did?
I just ordered to.
I already ordered them, just so you know.
Nice. I just posted this seconds ago before we started.
I don't mess around, Elvis. I've been waiting.
I know. Where is it? Dare to say no to bad dental scans. That's where we're at because I'm tired of seeing them. I'm tired of spending hours going over to other programs to fill holes and delete artifacts. It's time to stop it. So on sale until April 9th, just so Barb has them before Spain.
Yes, I better. You waited so long.
Yeah, shirts, long sleeves, hoodies, t-shirts, women cuts, all of it. different colors, head over to voicesfromthebench.com/shirts for a link to order. So this week we are back again on the main stage of the Ivoclar Ballroom at LMT Lab Day Chicago 2026. So years ago, I'm sure you'll remember this Barb, we met a French man who started an implant component company called Open Implants.
Yes, I did.
You'll probably remember him more because he used to pronounce focus as **** us. This was like our first year of recording and boy did we get years of use out of that. But Frederick Rapp comes on to talk about his journey. What happened with open implants and what he's doing now at his new home, Icortica. And for those of you that remember, I love Icortica.
I do too.
This is that software I use every day in my regular job. And it was great to have Frederick back on the podcast to talk about his new role at a company I love so much.
Then we talked to two more people that has another great workflow partnership. Last week was Ibaclar and Pantera. And this week, it's Ivaclar and DES. Casey Baldwin from Ivaclar talks about the need their customers had for milling their own abutment. Darren Lockabee is the president of DES USA and talks about the importance of milling their blanks on good mills like the ones that Ivaclar has to sell. Together, they talk about the workflow they have developed to mill abutments in under 30 minutes and are validated in case the FDA comes a call in.
So join us as we chat with Frederick Rapp, Casey Baldwin, and Darren Lockabee.
Hey, Voices from the Bench listeners, Barbara here. Are you ready to take your digital dentistry skills to the next level? Then you do not want to miss Exocad Insights 2026. It's happening April 30th through May 1st on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. We're talking two full days of powerhouse keynotes, hands-on workshops, live software demos, and top-tier industry showcases, all in one incredible location. And yes, Elvis and I will be there too, bringing you exclusive on-site interviews that you won't hear anywhere else. Now here's something extra special this year. The Women in Dentistry Lunch. It's a celebration of the women who lift this profession higher every single day. today. You'll hear from an inspiring panel about career growth, bias, well-being, and the real stories behind their journeys. It's one of those rare events that reminds you why your work matters and how powerful we are when we support one another. And of course, I look forward to the legendary XO Glam Night. You can network, listen to music, and have unforgettable fun under the stars. Tickets are going fast, so head to exocad.com/insights-2026 and grab yours today. And just for our listeners, Voices from the Bench listeners, use the code VFTBPALMA15 for 15% off. We will see you in Mallorca.
Voices from the Bench. The interview.
I swear when I'm recorded, so. What's that?
Oh, no. Yeah, no, you have to. You gotta drop a little F-bomb every now and again. So this is exciting. We're here at Ivoclar's ballroom on stage. Is that a little intimidating? That was a little weird for me. I was like.
We'll just forget about the 500 people that are looking at us right now. Pretend they don't exist. No cell phones.
Stop filming.
Yeah, please.
Frederick, what's your last name? I forget.
Rapp. R-A-P-P.
Rapp.
Rapp.
Frederick Rapp. You came on eons ago.
Yes.
A long time ago with open implants, right?
You were that tall.
That's hilarious. It was that lab day, wasn't it? was a lab day. Yeah, exactly.
I had a blast.
Was it your first lab day when you were here?
No, I come to lab day since 15 years.
Fifty years. Yeah, when you were this big.
Yeah, that big too. Yeah, We grow up together, actually. It's not secret.
So remind everybody your story. French.
Yeah, French. As you can say with my accent.
Yes. You came into this industry how?
I grew up in a dental lab because my father had a very small lab with five, six employees in the basement of the house.
Yeah.
I guess this is where it starts every time.
Every time.
And it stayed in the basement. Then time came. My father didn't want me to be a dental technician. He wanted me to be a dentist. And so I was registered for dental school. And just 48 hours before going to the dental school, I was like, man, I'm not going to spend my life with my hands in the patient's mouth. So I cannot do that.
Was an issue for you?
Yeah, I was like, no, I'm not going to have a passion for that. So then what I did is I flipped and I went to an engineering school, mechanical.
That's right, I remember, yeah.
Mechanical engineering school.
That's when you became a real nerd.
Yeah, a real one. Yeah, I was already kind of 1, but then I became a real one.
Yeah, now it's official.
It's official. Everybody knows the 500 people now.
But you weren't in dental during that. I mean, it was like.
I was helping my dad's lab on the side, but really I was loving mechanical engineering, and I was lucky that during my mechanical engineering studies, I discovered rapid prototyping. It was the early stages of rapid prototyping, and I was like, Wait a second, I know somebody that is manufacturing prototypes all day long.
All day long, every single one.
I was like, Is there a way I can convert that into dental? So, I was one of the early adopters in France of technology. Long story short, came to my dad. My dad was ready to retire, and he said, Okay, I'm gonna shut down the lab and say, 'Hold on, I think I have a concept I wanna try. Lost for lost, let's just give it a shot.' So I took my dad's lab over and it was really orally the dental technician that was working with my father and myself. And I was like, listen, either we go big or we stop immediately. And she was like, okay, let's do it.
Yeah.
So long story short, again, we moved it, we ramped it up from two people to 150 people in the course of something like. Yeah, that's.
Huge. Especially for Europe. What's the, I saw that at Cal Lab yesterday, the average size lab in Europe. Europe is 4.5 people or something like that.
It's so many small labs, yeah, and we became the biggest.
What was the name of the lab?
Crown Ceram, yeah, Crown Ceram, Crown Ceram, yeah, that was my dad's idea to do that, and man, it was a hell of a ride, and I just... Enjoyed it so.
Much.
So sold the business three years ago to a big private equity group that is consolidating lab across Europe. It's now, I think, the second of the surge.
Can I ask, have they ruined your old lab yet?
No, they did. Yeah.
You hear those stories?
Yeah, no, it's still there.
You ever go in?
Yeah. From time to time, you know, I have some lunch with my... I listen. I did that because I loved my team. It was all about the people.
I love it.
So many people ask me, how did you do it? Say, well, first of all, I didn't do it alone. That's #1. I don't have superpowers. I use superpower tools, but I don't have superpowers. But my team was everything. My only job was gathering the best experts I could find around the table. And they are really the ones that made that possible. So I stayed in the private equity group, and I kind of used my expertise to help the other labs in the group. especially moving from a basic LMS to something that was better and consolidating all the LMSs across the board. And I was also part of some M&A, looking at the labs from a technical angle before we for acquisition.
And all that. Yeah, very cool.
The gaps we had.
How long did you do that for?
I did it for three years. Okay. And then, you know, I... I was always, I was not at the bench, thank God, for the dentists. But I was always near the products. Sure. I wanted something to go back to more innovation. Yeah, Nothing bad about that. I had a great time with them. They are really cool people. I really enjoyed my time. But then I was like, okay, let's move on to something else. And this summer I was on vacation in Boston with my kids and with my family. And I met my friend Rob there, and Rob was like, What's up? Say, I'm just gonna be out of the dental lab, and he was like, What are you gonna do? And I say, I don't know yet. Say, I know you're gonna join Icortica and you're gonna help me.
Wait a minute, what happened to Open Implants?
Open Implants was sold, but we decided...
Did you start open implants?
Yeah, that was like a side hobby I had. Everybody that knows Rob just love Rob, right?
Of course, Rob Nazel for the audience. I mean, he's Mr. Icortica, Mr. Icortica, Cap, all that. Mr. Cap. Yeah, we all love Rob.
Yeah, and I met Rob 15 years ago, and we just had a professional crush, you know, and we were like... Hey, let's do something together, and Bob Cohen at the time, yeah, the famous What's going on? Yep, guy was like, There is a need for better implant components, because the one we have right now, they don't have they are engineered by engineers and not for dental technicians. So we need nicer emergence profile. We need better workflow. We need one-fits-all kind of products. We don't want to go, it's already that complicated, those implants, you know. We wanted to simplify it. And here came the concept. I'm like, hey, I'm an engineer. I think I have a draw.
But you already know implants. You understand that. Exactly. The technician's troubles with them. Yeah.
Yes. And we wanted to simplify that. And so we started this company called Open Implants. It was a great, great ride. Again, it's It's always the same. It's all about the team. We had a fantastic team.
Yeah.
And we grew today.
Most of that team is at Icortica, isn't it?
Half of the team is not at Icortica. I know.
I love that.
It's like, why change a team?
They work together.
It works.
And they're great people.
And they are awesome people. Yeah. Kudos to Prudence, Tamara. They are really, I mean, I just love them.
Yeah, absolutely. So you sold open implants?
Yeah, we sold open implants, you know, COVID hits. It's a little tiny thing that happened in 2020, and I heard about it. Yeah, sorry for my French, up everything. Yeah, So I was not able, I was the CEO of Open Implants. My lab was growing like crazy, and I was not able to travel, you know. So we hired a CEO, and then the time came. Rob was busy on Icortica. I was busy with my lab. Bob was retiring. We were like, okay, time to exit and time to sell. So we sold that business, and then we kept...
In touch, yeah.
And this is how it came into Ycortica.
So where is, I keep going back to open implant, sorry. Is it still available? Is it under another name? Or what is it?
No, it's still available. It's still open implants so far that I know. And we sold it to a group of dental labs called SKDLI in California.
Okay, so they're doing whatever they want to do with it.
Yeah, they are doing. They are using the product so far that I know. And yeah, but now the team. The team is here.
You kept your friendship with the most lovable man in dentistry, Rob Bazell.
Yes.
And then were you using ICortica?
I was actually the first dental user.
Oh really?
Tamara always give me a hard time because when I tell I was the first user, she was like, no, that's not true. Open Implants was the first user.
So yeah, but you were Open Implants.
It was Open Implants and you didn't really pay for the software at that time. I was the first. So you used this?
By Cortica, that's meant for labs, but for a vendor. Okay, exactly.
Actually, we also have vendors that are our customers. Yeah, so they are vendors in the depth.
I didn't realize it started there. So, you were the guinea pig?
Yes, and how was it the first time?
Was there a lot of bugs? To be honest, it's Rob.
No, you know Rob, it's not a lot of bugs. When Rob builds a prototype, the prototype is working, and it's pretty stable. I would say in the early stages, we helped Rob improving, of course, and giving... day-to-day feedbacks from the reps, from the marketing, and then Rob is so well known in the industry that a lot of people joined as customers later on, and the product continued to evolve.
So now you work for Icortica.
And now I work for Icortica.
So what do you do for Icortica?
So what I do is I have a very American title. I'm head of strategy and business development.
That is very...
Which to people that know me. And they know my passion for not having a title. I'm just ready. And so what I do know is basically I handle all the relationships with the different LMSs. So Icortica is a software that plugs into the LMS.
So it started with Magic Touch and I know recently it just kind of opened up to other things.
Yeah, we just opened up to ABS. Which is now official, and we have our first customers using that, and we are just on the verge to close the integration with GreatLab. Yeah, so GreatLab is here, and we are, I think, in a month, less than a month, we are gonna be ready, so I manage those relationships. further LMS integration to come. So basically what we want to do is try to bring Icortica to the vast majority of the labs that are using an LMS. So if any LMS out there are listening, we are happy to partner. We don't have a single religion, I would say.
Yeah, no, I'm an advocate. I mean, my life is Icortica, because my lab uses magic touch, and I swear I could not do what I do without it.
And I push it.
And you would be dumb as an LMS not to offer it. I mean, I don't know what the cost is and the effort to go in to make it happen, but you'd be an idiot not to make it happen.
I did a lecture yesterday explaining a little bit the data and the gold mine that the labs are sitting on, and they don't realize so many people see as an LMS. Because, okay, a case comes in, case entry, invoice, done. But there is so much more to an LMS.
It's a history of thousands of patients.
Thousands.
I mean, just of workflows and materials. Exactly. Prices.
Prices, inventory, shipping. It's insane. And so you have people on the case entry, they enter the case and they even don't know that they are actually feeding, they're building their own.
Your own gold mine, a database that is so huge.
I always tell the two most important assets in a company is 1, the people always back to the basics, and 2nd, the database, because your database has your customers, your products, your costs, your materials, it has everything, but... It's you're sitting on top of that and you don't get there, and the entire concept of Icortica was born because when Rob was running CAP, when I was running my lab, we knew we had those data and we were Rob is kind of geek, right?
Rob is that is the understatement of the day.
And Rob goes and uses those fancy tools, Tableau, Power BI, those kind of things. But he understands that. He know how to plug the database, he know how to build the reports, to make them alive. But not everybody is capable of doing that or has the resources to do that.
A very small percentage of people are capable of doing that.
And look, running a dental lab is so overwhelming. You have so many things to take care of. You cannot You cannot go that way, and learn that extra skill. You'd better learn digital skills for production, than going into data. So the concept started there, and Rob decided, okay, we need to make a simple tool so people can have a look in that gold mine. And this is where it was born. So we started with dashboards, and when I was using Icotica at the beginning, it was just better dashboards, I would say. But very easy and accessible. It was meant for everybody that is in in a customer service or in a rep role to get easy access to that.
No, totally.
On the road, in the office, you just get that access.
I'm sure the listeners are probably sick of hearing me talk about it, but my last lab, we had an LMS. I wanted to do all of our customers and see what their total sales are over the last couple of months. I'd print off this list, and I'd start working my way through it. I'd get distracted, I'd be back to it. Next thing you know, a couple of weeks gone by, and I'm still on that same list, and things have changed.
Exactly. It's not relevant anymore.
It's not. And this is like updated constantly.
It's updating every hour. And you're absolutely right. The minute, the second you print out this PDF report or this Excel export you do, it's not up to date anymore. So it's already fake data. I was talking to a customer yesterday or a prospect yesterday that is going to become a customer.
Yeah, they will.
Of course. They have to.
It's an idiot not to.
And I was telling him, we are really looking into customer retention. And what about you print this report? You see Dr. Jones didn't send a case for the last week.
Yeah.
Okay, a couple of days passed by. Oh, I have these reports. I need to call Dr. Jones. You call Dr. Jones and say, hey, you didn't send a case. Guess what? It did. It did.
Yes. You look like an idiot. Totally.
You look like, are you taking care of your customers?
That is so true.
With iCortica, that doesn't happen. happen anymore. And we basically put this watch list, watching the database on automation, meaning while you sleep, while you're out there, while you're taking care of the other customers, it's constantly watching and giving you alerts on, oh, this customer is shinking.
Oh, no, I get the e-mail, I get the alerts.
Exactly. You log in, boom, you have it. And we try to prioritize them. We don't try, we do it actually. We prioritize them by By business amount, by importance, opportunity size, not that every customer is important, but maybe you wanna take care of the ones that are really doing big things.
It doesn't, I mean, let's be honest, you still have to react. Yes, I mean, it's not gonna do your job for you. No, to me, the biggest benefit is I do a lot of chair side, so it's Monday. If I plan out my week, I can't. That's gonna change completely, because all of a sudden, Wednesday at noon, I gotta help them do this. Yes, so while I try to plan out my week, all of a sudden I have to pivot. So now I'm in this new area, this new town, instead of... I'm able to, in my car, look to see what they've sent. Anybody around, I got, oh, I got out of here a little early. I'm going to stop by this office. I'm not going in there blind. I'm looking at notes. I'm looking at what they said. Maybe they haven't sent anything in five years. It's in there. But at least I can walk in there and say, what happened five years ago.
Exactly.
It looks like I did my research, but I did it from the parking lot.
Yes.
That's huge.
And speaking about parking lot, you are going to be excited about that news in a week from now. Rob, geek again. He wants to make labs life easier, and he wants to continue to develop the product. So Greg, one of our developers that co-founded the company with Rob, and Rob, they decided, okay, we are going to do these new features. So now you're on the parking lot, you just visited Dr. Jones. And you see that, okay, there is an opportunity for all our next cases. It doesn't do all our next with you. are on the parking lot. You just press the button and you talk. And you say, hey, I just visited Dr. Jones. He's interested in all our next cases. Let's have Jessica send him a starter kit for that. That's it. goes to the Dr. Jones account, create a task for Jessica, send her And you can do that. You can be very creative with that.
I love it.
Send myself a note that I need to follow up in a week from now about that. How cool is that? You just got to say it? You just say it. You push one button and you say it.
Yeah.
I told Rob, we need to go even further. But hey, it's a very good start.
That's awesome.
And this is going to be released next week.
Especially the tasks that's cool, 'cuz you'd be like, 'cuz I'll forget.
I was blown away when he showed me the prototype. He said, Look at this, I don't have to go to the customer page. I just tell, 'Hey, I was by Doctor Jones.' That's cool. And he just finds it, That's amazing. And then you can interact, it's gonna, the AI is gonna propose you, hey, do you want me to create a task? And it's all prompting, it's all talking, you know. And you'll go, oh, okay, I'm gonna create a task so we can remind Dr. Jones in one week, say, oh, no, I would like that to be two weeks. And then automatically it sets it all up. It just sets it all up. Boom, boom, automatically. Again, the entire concept is you guys are busy. We want you to spend time, quality time, with the customer and not.
Have to think about the two hours of notes you got to type in at the end of the day.
Can you imagine putting out your computer on the parking lot and typing that? It's boring. It is a waste of time.
It almost... That makes you not want to do it because you're like, I gotta type it all out.
Exactly.
That's nice.
I love it. was really instrumental in me being able to develop my lab, that's for sure. I mean, the LMS was the really first milestone regarding that part of technology. And then I was done with Excel, with Tableau, those kind of things. Icorica just made it easy, invisible, I would say. And for me as a business owner, What was really important to me is I got my own dashboards and I was able to see revenue by departments. I was able to see onboarding, which is a super important metric. How many labs don't get past the third case? We made some statistics out of our data and we can see that when we onboard the customer initially, 50% of the customers, they don't go above case #3. That when you think about it on a cost of acquisition cost, a cost of acquisition standpoint, if 50% of your customer or prospect don't become a real customer, you double the cost of acquisition. It's just pure math, you know? So this is really something that it's expensive, you know? That's the rule #1. And then the second one is So many people are like, I need to grow my revenue. I need new customers. Hey, guess what? You already have loyal customers, but maybe they are not aware that you are doing removable or you just launched this new 3D denture, digital denture. What about you tell them, you know?
It's so much easier to get more work out of somebody than to get new work.
It's easier because you have the relationship. It's easier because you already have the logistics in between, you know? And the dentist is going to It's gonna be, Hey, I like those guys, they're doing a good job, let's have a shot. Yeah, so increasing share of wallet is super important and it's pretty kind of the lowinging fruit out there. Yeah, we had a customer the other day, he was like, Hey, we are gonna launch a new product. Okay, fine. He enters the new product in the lab management system. And we created what we call an insight. So an insight is basically an analyzer. And we tell, okay, show me a list of all the customers that did not buy that particular product. And you can be very creative with that. Show me customer didn't do business X days, bought fixed but not removable.
Same day, et cetera. That same day.
Yeah, a lot of things. And we created this analyzer for him. And now every day he got... First, he's running a playbook behind that. So he sends an e-mail to those customers that are not buying the product because it's new to bring that to their attention. And then we continue to roll out the playbook. In one week, they are going to get a second one. And then they are going to get a task is going to be assigned to somebody from the lab to call the dentist.
Yeah, follow up.
And it's amazing. You can see this number of customers that did not try the product yet just shrinking weeks after weeks after weeks.
Well, I like it. It puts, I don't want to say responsibility, but just like reminder for the follow-up. That's the hardest thing.
Yeah. And the feature that Rob released, sadly I was not in charge anymore of my lab. I wish I could use it because that's so powerful. And it's called the game plan. And the game plan is really like you go on a customer page, you push a button, and it tells you about the customer. It just tells you, okay, this customer had a frustration issue because We checked the notes and we checked.
I, yeah, anytime you put like, They were ****** yeah, it flags that word, exactly, but you gotta be careful when you write notes, yeah, 'cause you could say, I got them to leave their ****** lab, yeah, but it still flags 'cause it has that word, it flags, yeah.
And don't get me wrong, sometimes it gives a false alert, yeah, sure, like a customer didn't order for a week, maybe he was on vacation, but you know what? I know about it. And you can double check.
Yeah, sure.
We kept a dream that the customer was on vacations.
Yeah, I know. I'll get notifications like you lost an account. I'm like, oh my God, I clicked. I was like, that guy retired. What are you talking about? Exactly.
So we look at those frustrations, we look at those opportunities that are in the database on the customer. And how many times it happens, you as a rep, you come in, hey, Dr. Jones, we have this amazing new product. And the doctor goes, Maybe you could start by delivering the case on time. Or maybe you could start by fixing my contact points. So now guess what? Because we are checking in the background. We give you those information and we go, Elvis, if you go and see Dr. Jones, don't start to cross-sell him. Maybe you start telling him, I know you have an issue. We are working on it. This is what we need to fix it. The dentist is gonna be blown away he's gonna, Oh, Elvis knows me, yep, and you're human you cannot know all your customers. I'll give you a real life.
I was about to walk into an office last week in the parking lot. Let me check the notes real quick. Yeah, UPS lost a package.
Yeah, exactly.
I went from... How I was gonna walk in there to something completely different.
Exactly.
And I could have ruined it.
And guess what? It's interesting. Because you walk in there.
Saying, we're great, we're perfect.
They're like, no, you're not. No, you're not. And you look like stupid. You really look like he doesn't know his business. Yeah. And I heard this.
It looks like we don't talk to each other at the lab. That's what it looks like.
Yes, exactly. Yeah. I always remember this famous quote from Jim Glidewell. Yeah, he runs a little lab. I've heard of him. Yeah, I think he owns a boat or something. Yeah, something like that. And he always tells, it's funny because the big lab wants to seem like they are big, the small labs want to seem they are big, and the big labs want to have the image that they are smaller.
They want.
And with Icortica, it's exactly that. It's exactly, we know you have a lot of customers. But we give you so many insights of what's going on that the customer himself doesn't really care if you have 1000 customers. He wants to be the only one. We all want that in our lives. We want to be the customer. And it gives this opportunity that, they really care about me.
It really does.
Yeah. And you provide a better service to the dentist. So game plan is about that. We really sort those different activities that are going around the dentist. lifecycle, I would say, prioritize them, and you can create those into actionable things like, okay, send this doctor an e-mail because he never bought fixed, he was only buying removable, or have Helvis call him because he has a shipping issue, and stuff like that. And we push it one step further, and we do emailing. So from that, you can just create an e-mail. So I wish I had that. We were little bit behind, I would say, back there. But what we were using the most is tracking the customer behavior, showing the opportunities, and man, it was tremendous. We really were able to move the needle on the average basket side of the customers.
Absolutely. And it's not just meant for labs to have a huge sales team.
No.
I could see, even if you don't have a salesperson, just customer service being able to be aware of things without having to open up 6 reports and export And to Excel and all that. I mean, it's all there in a fingertip. And I know you're looking to work with more LMSs.
Yes. Yeah, right now.
So instead of asking LMSs to say, hey, reach out, how about labs ask their LMS that they want to be part of Icortica?
Exactly.
Say, hey, I want you to hook up with Icortica. That's the way to do it.
This is exactly how it started with ABS. We had a customer. Jay Collins.
He's on Monday's episode.
Oh, perfect. And he was like, Rob, I need that. And Rob tells, okay, we are not on ABS yet, so I'm gonna do the intro. And we had a fantastic communication with them and we builded the API and now we are integrated.
I love it.
So feel free to reach out and yeah, ask your LMS to be a part of it. To be a part of it. We are happy to integrate.
I love it.
There's so many new things that are in development right now we are super excited. We see AI as an opportunity to make the lab's life easier, yeah, and it's not a threat.
Yeah, it's definitely this whole conversation's AI, exactly.
That's true.
You're not even real.
No, that's true. Our message is really, if you don't have an LMS, get an LMS, because it's not only an invoicing tool as many people see it. It's a data collected. And start to dig into the data. Just start to dig into that. It's so valuable.
Awesome. Frederick, thank you so much, man.
It was a pleasure to be here.
I'm so happy you're here. You're back in the family.
Thank you. Thank you.
What a great group.
I love the industry. If I can help, I was a lab, and now I can bring tools. Are you living in the States now? No, I still live in France.
Is Icortica over there?
Only by Cronceram for now. We'll see in the future how it evolves. But right now, our main... Territory is really United States, Canada. We have customers down in Australia.
Nice.
So, and we'll see, taking.
Over the world one lab at a time.
One lab at a time. One happy customer at a time.
There you go.
This is the most important for us.
Absolutely.
Having happy customers.
Has there been anyone that got iCortica and says it's not for us?
No, not for now. I can't imagine. No, not for now. We are so happy. Happy to have the customers we have, that's pretty cool.
It's amazing, and they're all people that want this knowledge, they want their tools, they want the.
Things, and long-term, as you mentioned, this can apply to a lot of other businesses, and part of my role is also to explore other territories. It's funny, Rob and I were talking to a flooring company. They sell hardwood floor, and the guy was like, Hey, guess what? I sell my hardwood floor to 4000 handcraft guys, but I cannot track that all day long.
Interesting.
So, and I could cross-sell them because I sell the floors, but I also sell the glue, I sell the colors, I sell... a bunch of different things. So there is upsell opportunity, there is cross-sell opportunity, there is opportunity to retain those customers.
What do they call it? Not LMS, FLFMS, Floor Management System.
What do you mean? Yeah, it's Floor Management System. That's a good one.
What do they use? QuickBooks or something?
They have their own. Really? Yeah, it's amazing.
I gotta get out of this industry and look around every now and again.
This is one of the reasons why I wanted to join Icortica, because I love dental, but I also want to explore other things.
Sure, I'm fascinated by other industries.
It's crazy.
And I always compare it to us.
Yeah, and you know, those guys are craftsmen too, and they're passionate about the product.
Isn't it, *****?
And this is one of the reasons I joined Icortica. I was like, okay, dental is cool. And if I can stay a foot in dental without being a lab, but being at the service of the lab, that's awesome. But also I want to explore the world. I want to see other opportunities. So this is going to be the next evolution.
You can actually see that.
Yeah. It's, the world is so, it's a small village at the end. But there are so many opportunities out there. So we definitely want to continue explore other verticals too. If somebody has family in the flooring business, just kidding.
Hey, who knows, man?
But yeah.
It's almost endless.
It is almost endless.
As long as you have data.
Exactly.
You can do it.
As long as you have a recurring business, as long as you have a lot of customers and a lot of products, I think Icortica is a great fit.
I love it. Frederick, thank you so much, man.
Thank you for having me.
Always a pleasure.
That was great. We'll see you in a bit. Thank you.
Have a good one.
Bye.
So this is super exciting. Not only are we at the Ivor Clar.
Oh, you got to try that again.
Ivor Clar Ballroom at Lab Day 2026. We have Ivor Clar here.
Yes.
Mr. Ivor Clar himself. Yes. Thank you for joining us.
Casey Baldwin.
Yes, sir.
I love it. How are you, sir?
I'm very well. How about you?
Awesome. We're great.
But we're also joined with. I know your name. Darren Lockerby from DES.
Yes. I love you.
Thanks for having me. Well, thank you. Thank you. I mean, seriously, good parts. They are. That's all we're done. I'm just kidding. So let's start with Casey. What's your role here at Ivoclar?
So I'm director of sales of the lab division, the technical division here at Ivoclar for the US.
Are you based in Buffalo?
So no, I actually live in Iowa.
Really.
On purpose.
Maybe the one place worse than Buffalo.
Yeah.
Yes, I live in Iowa and they allow me to travel all over the US and meet with customers. And that's one thing that I really like to do. And being central in the US, it's actually really nice to travel east or west and make it either way and travel with the reps and visit customers and hear what's happening in their laboratories.
How long have you been with Ivoclar?
About a year and a half now.
Oh, really?
Yeah, just hit a year and a half.
That's probably why we've never seen you before.
Cool, fairly new.
Great company, ridiculous.
Quick few minute version of how you ended up here. What's your background?
So a lot of background in laboratory and implants with a competitive company before this.
We don't need names.
It was a competitive company before this. I actually had the opportunity to work with Darren for a number of years, 12 years. It was a minute. So we worked together before this and then have the opportunity now to partner again on a really fun project. that we launched here at Lab Day.
So that'll segue into Darren. Darren and I go way back, which we didn't realize until 2 minutes ago. That's right. So you're with DES, and then where did you start in the industry?
Yeah, so I'm President and General Manager of DES USA.
That should be on your badge.
It should be. So I've been in... dental, dental implants, dental lab space for about 22 years. Spent six years with Nobel, which is where I met you. And then spent another 12 years at, well, it started at Astrotech and then it morphed into densely implants and morphed into densely Sirona. So I survived all of those. You went through all two transitions. Three of those.
I love that you must be good.
And I've been with DES now almost three years, and it's been a good year. You talked about DES parts that's kind of why I'm here.
I'm a parts and pieces person, man. I love this.
Yes, we have a story to tell, and it's exciting, and it's great to be able to collaborate with... industry giants like Ivor Clark, especially with their presence in the lab space, it's super exciting for us, and I get to work with a good friend that I've worked with for a long time.
So, tell us about the collaboration, unless you...
No, go for it.
I know you're a parts guy, so if you want to expand upon it, I get nerd out about parts.
And ruin everyone's day, but what's going on here? You got desks, which is, you know, and Ivoclar, which really is an implant. That's right. What the hell?
Whose brainchild was it? Yeah, how does it marry up?
So dental laboratories, for a long time, have wanted to keep, a lot of dental labs are looking for revenue streams with price compression, controlling processes inside the lab. A lot of them have wanted to meld their own abutments in-house. The obstacle to that has been, how do you do it compliantly with the FDA? And so, for years, the only path was to register with the FDA as a manufacturer and go through a lengthy and time-consuming and resource-dependent process called a QMS system. And not every lab can do that. Most labs can't.
Most can't or want.
So about 2 1/2 years ago, DAS came out with what's called, it's really creatively named, by the way, so it's called PNP, which stands for plug and play. And what it is, it's just a validated process. that we register with the FDA, and as long as the laboratory follows that recipe, that validated process, they are FDA clients, compliant. They piggyback off of our FDAK number. What does that mean?
You got to use the right software, the right mills, the right parts, the right pieces.
All of the above. So it starts with data capture. So, you know, we're validated with... Six to 8 different iOS systems, and then it goes into, your planning software. So, Exocad, 3Shape, and dental wings are all validated.
But the data has to come from a validated in this workflow iOS.
It does, but we cover about ninety-five percent.
You got the big ones. Yeah, okay, yeah, I don't want the work from some guy that's got some.
And of course, an analog impression is an analog impression. That's certainly fine.
And that's still works, so interesting.
Okay, then you have HyperNet in Millbox, check, and then we validate specific mills, and we've just validated with Ivaclar collaboratively their PM7, and so now Ivaclar's customers, their laboratory customers, will be able to... If they choose, mill their own abutments in-house using the PM7.
Sorry, but it sounds like to me that if someone is in their lab, they got a PM7 to start milling abutments, you're most likely gonna have all that other stuff.
You most likely will.
What are you working with dental wings here? Let's move on here. I mean, you got Exocad. What else? I mean, you just need your blanks and that's it.
That's it.
Yeah, but don't you guys have to go into the laboratory and make sure that you validate? When you're talking about the FDA, you just have to make sure they have all of the right equipment.
The lab makes sure they have all the equipment.
Yeah, so it's their ownness.
It is their responsibility to follow the recipe. But it, and it sounds simple. Because it is. It's plug and play. It is that simple.
They don't have to mill an abutment, send it to you. don't have to measure it, make sure it's right.
We did that in our collaboration.
I was going to say, so how do you, how does Ivoclar roll into that?
So we worked with DES and it started years ago. Our customers have been asking for the ability to mill DES abutments.
I bet. Yes.
And so because of that demand that customers were sharing with us, Darren and I had the opportunity to speak together and kind of fast track it. And then we involved some partner laboratories as well to help us validate the abutments, some beta customers. So there were some very valuable customers that helped us actually mill the abutments out, and we did it internally as well. Sent them to DES in Spain, and then they started the process of...
That's right, your guys are in Spain.
We are.
That's cool.
So they did do what you said, but they did it in the beta part of that.
We did it in the, that's, so they send the meld abutments back, the DME files, and then we have a third-party evaluator that tests them to the FDA specs. We submit that to the FDA and the Ivaclar PM7 gets added to our 510K for PMP.
So it has to meet the specifications, you put it in, and then you get approved.
That's right.
And then all labs are a go.
Well, that's cool. There is a process afterwards. We have to go through the manufacturing of the holder that goes inside of the PM7, and so we're going through that now.
Is that a special holder?
It is. It's a special holder that's for the PM7 that dust manufactures, and then we send a dental soft works And then it's put into our CAM software.
How many abutments can the thing hold?
Six.
Six.
Yeah, six.
That's not too bad. So you can load six and walk away and you can get 6 abutments when you're done.
And we found that during our testing that it took between 25 and 30 minutes for abutments.
I was going to ask, that's not too bad.
It truly isn't. That's pretty quick. So you're looking at about 25 minutes for, you know, just your run-in-the-mill straight abutments and then your angle screw channel are taking about 30.
Why does it take longer?
I'm not sure.
Because it's angled.
It's probably not. It's dirty. The hole is pre-done, right?
The hole is pre-done. It's...
Good thing nobody's videoing. I'm going to be on social media later and some.
Camera from way over there. Sorry, guys.
Oops.
Okay. It has to do with the angulation of the mill. You have to get the... The.
Holder.
The bit. Test to get into the undercuts.
Tool path.
The tool path. I was looking for it. I was looking for it. You got it. Senior moment there. Can't get in. The tool path has to, it's a little more difficult and challenging.
Okay, that makes sense then.
It just takes a little longer.
Nice.
And Elise Hifko, who I know has been on the podcast before, she was intimately involved and worked with Darren from from the Ivaclar end as well.
So that's what you're launching. Are you launching that at this meeting? We are. Is this like the big news?
Is this great? That's one of the big pieces of news for Ivaclar here at LMT this year. 2026 is certainly the desk. Now, implants is new for Ivaclar. That's one bit of... You never got in that space, Ivaclar. It's interesting because you heard... our president and CCO, Chet Spivey, on Thursday evening when we did the unveil of all the new products. Right on the stage we're on today.
It's our stage now, today.
He talked a lot about getting customer integration teams together and getting voice of customer.
You guys have been so great at that, though, honestly. Sorry to interrupt you.
No, you're fine. We heard from our customers that Ivoclar might not have been the friendliest company to work with implant workflows, and so when we got our customers together, and that's when we decided it's a huge market in the U.S., the implant marketplace, and knowing that we have the workflows to support implants, whether that's zirconia, sintering. the milling component of it, the characterization, and now the implants, we truly have end-to-end solutions that can support a laboratory for a full fixed restoration, or you go all the way to a removable restoration that can be done on the PM7, and then integrating desks into that. will certainly position us to be a full service provider for a dental laboratory.
So I'm going to ask you like a question that I really don't have the answer to. So if you want to mill abutments with your PM7, you also want to do removables or Emax or zirconia, how difficult is it to make from one change to the other? So they're going to be doing implants.
So abutments are wet milled, of course. And then if you're doing I've ocean, that's dry and most zirconia is dry, most people are doing dry zirconia milling, you will have to go through a drying process in the mill. With the recent updates, it's going to take about 10 minutes. That's not bad. It's really not bad. Especially with the new program L7, the program L7 pure that we launched here at LMT.
So my question was that you can add it right into your workflow in 10 minutes, you can switch it.
That's right.
That's amazing.
Yeah, it really is.
Don't you have a multi-disk one? Yeah, the PM7 abutment to something else.
You can as long as you program in a drying cycle there.
Interesting.
Yeah.
As long as you have a clue. You want your people running your mills to know what to do and what not to do. And that's where you guys have always been amazing to come in and show them, teach them. So I'm sure it's a whole workflow.
It is. And it truly is sitting with your customers to understand what they want to accomplish in their laboratories. I think that's the most important because some people, there's some laboratories that are doing hundreds of abutments on a monthly basis. with this and they want to dedicate maybe it's one or two program mill sevens or PM sevens to just milling abutments and that's going to be their abutment milling. manufacturing capabilities and then they want to have a couple of PM7s dedicated to Ivotions, exactly.
So at Dash, you must have a bead on the amount of labs that are really printing. I mean, not printing, but milling their own abutments. Is it a growth in this industry?
It is, and for all the reasons you can imagine. There's no right way for a lab to provide abutments for their customers. There are some that outsource, and there are reasons you would outsource. But especially in the last three to four years, as you've seen price compression and a lot of pressure on laboratories, and so maintaining margins is certainly a top of every lab owner's mind. And so being able to keep In a lot of cases, being able to keep workflows in-house, you not only control the timing of it, but it allows you to keep a lot more margin in-house. Of course, so we are seeing it grow for more control inside the lab, certainly for better margins. And we make really good stuff, so there's no quality degradation. Quality is the price of entry. So we check that box and we keep things affordable so laboratory owners can still turn a profit. while still providing really good service to their customers, the dentist, and ultimately the patient.
Plus what you've all done for us, because we all started waxing UCLA abutment. That was keeping the control.
That was fun.
Yeah, loads of fun. Way back when. And then we would wax that abutment, scan what we waxed, we've lost a little bit of control, and now we just scan and send it out. And then when FDA started talking about, can you do it in the lab, we were all scared. We're like, you can't. You can't. They'll come knocking on your door, they'll shut you down. And so many people kind of got gun shy about it. And then people like you started coming out with these workflows, they, you don't even have to, FDA won't even know you exist, right? They know you, they know you exist.
Exactly. So I got to ask that question. So if FDA does an inspection and they see that we're doing the implant parts, do we defer to you or do you all, do you guys give us everything that we need to show them?
We give you everything you need to show them. You would need to show them inside of the lab how you follow the recipe, but we would give you our K number with the process defined. And then you can say, here's our process for how we do our milling abundance. We do them on ThreeShape, we do them on Exocad, we use HyperDent, we have a PM7, we're using a desk part, and this is the way we do it every time.
So everything's already done.
Yep.
Because a lot of people are scared because of FDA. How do they provide what they need information-wise? But it's already there.
Do you have to use like a certain compressor, a certain tool. I mean, I mean, to the minute or is it just a broad?
Just the mill. So all of Ivaclar's process inside of that mill has been validated at this point.
So it really is.
Who supplies the milling components? Is that Ivaclar or is that Desk?
So the holder. the holder that you would use inside of the PM7, we will exclusively be selling that to Dental Laboratories. The holder comes with calibration, a set of calibration tools, because when you put that holder in, that holder is good only for that Program L7 or that PM7. It can't be moved from one to the other because it has to be calibrated for that specific machine for that piece of equipment. So, if they're if they're running, you know, two different mills, that's right, there's no swapping there. That's important, otherwise it's going to produce some results that aren't necessary and not wanted in the process, correct? And so, in that kit comes some calibration tools, some ingots. point out an old Emax term, some ingots that come with the calibration set. You go through a calibration time. It does take a little bit of time to calibrate, but once it's calibrated, it's calibrated.
How often do you calibrate?
So whenever you have to calibrate your machine, you then have to recalibrate the holder as well.
Oh, interesting.
Which you damn well better be calibrated. That's right. I'm a big calibration. That's so important.
So we sell that, and then Desk has a number of ways in which they distribute their products, the abutments through different distribution channels as well.
So the actual premailed blanks you can get directly from DAS USA on our website. We have several distribution partners that you can get them through, Zahn being one, you know, BenCo being another. So there's several alternate ways you can get those. You can't buy them for a minor car.
At this time, we want to crawl. That's pretty smart.
Focus on what you're good at and you focus.
On what you're good at. We have a lot of really fun innovations that we're launching this year at LMT. And so we want to make sure that we stay focused on the Ivaclar materials right now. We're never going to say never on that because it certainly would be something that I think our customers would enjoy that to be able to have a one-stop shop to soup to nuts. I'm not sure if that's an Iowa term or not, but soup to nuts. be able to go all the way from Zirconia Centering, the holder, Program Mill 7 or PM 7, and then also be able to order your components. I'm sure that might be something they might enjoy one day, but that's something that we're just going to have to assess as we get the holders out there. I do have to say, people have been flocking over here to the station with the mills to discuss this. Yeah.
Oh yeah, we've been watching them. Look at them. There's like 25 behind us right now.
It's a busy room. It's a busy room. I can add one other thing, a question that hasn't been asked. A lot of laboratories get a lot of pressure from the OEM implant manufacturers.
OK, I wasn't going to ask.
But to provide to provide OEM parts, the implant companies. So a couple things on that. First and foremost, desk products, we have a lifetime warranty on them. And that lifetime warranty carries over to the implant that is used as well. So if it's an implant that something happens to, we will replace the implant as well as the desk part. We will give them a check for the cost of that implant. That's one. Second, depending on who the OEM is, We may already be validated for those because we provide a lot of OEM parts to some. So those are covered under the PMP as well. Those are things I can work with individual labs in identifying what they're complying with and what there's not.
So there's OEM parts that are wink, wink, actually desk parts.
Potentially.
Okay, that's fine. Yeah, I like that answer. Yeah. Interesting.
There's only so many manufacturers that can do and produce the way that DES and Modentika were also validated with Modentika, so they're also a partner as well. I want to make sure to share that as well. But there's only so many manufacturers out there with facilities and quality standards like DES and Modentika.
Yeah, partner with the best. That's what you guys are known for and you as well. I'm speaking to both of you.
We're here. We're partnering with the best.
That's right.
What do you, are you selling more blanks or tie bases?
That's a good question. What is that?
What do you mean?
So blanks, you make custom tie bases or stock parts. Stock parts.
And then there's multi-unit abutments. They're scan. It's all scan flags as well. I mean, there's everything that they sell.
Fully away from Tiebase yet now that custom is being easier.
They are still, you know, one of our core products. We certainly are seeing higher percentage growth in the pre-milled blanks. It's growing faster, but we still sell a significant number of Tiebases as well. And there's, you know, there's Applications for both. Oh, of course, yeah. And there's no 100% in dentistry. They have uses for both, and they'll be around for a while.
What's the difference again?
Stock part versus an abutment that's custom made for that patient.
Okay. And what the hell is the difference?
Custom is better. Sometimes. Sort of. Sometimes.
I'm not an implant guru. Elvis is. I'm a ceramist. So sometimes I just need a visual of an explanation.
They're all the same color, if that helps.
Yeah. They're made from the same material too. That's right.
Yeah. Is it true that temporary cylinders are the same material as a regular abutment?
Yeah, that is true.
Yeah. Why is it called temporary?
The titanium ones are. That's a great question.
I had someone tell that to me once, like, you could just use a temporary. It's the same thing. I'm like, Does it cost the same?
I don't know.
Roughly. Roughly. There's not a significant cost difference in them. It's the same material. It's the temporaries are really made. The tooth material is typically different.
Of course.
But once you cement that on or whatever bonding material you're using, the abutments, you're not going to get that off. You're going to need another one. Or the time it would take to get that off. It's not worth it.
What about the cost difference? You don't have to get into pricing, but between a stock part and a blank.
It's about the same.
Is it really? Interesting.
It is about the same.
That's awesome. I don't know why you wouldn't get into milling blanks.
It's yeah, if there is a difference, it's insignificant.
What'd you say, 35 minutes to mill it?
Twenty-five to 30 minutes.
Is there any post-processing after that, or is it done?
It's done.
Wow, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Wow. That's awesome. So are you going?
To have to cut those off? You'd have to cut them off.
Yeah, for sure. But it's not.
It's not significant whatsoever.
You don't need to.
So do you have to like metal, you don't have to metal finish it or anything like that before you make the crown.
They come out, they look like jewels when they come out.
Wow. So they're ready to put in, scan, and make the crown over.
Certainly. So they look like jewels when they come out. So they're ready to go and present to the doctors.
And it's digitally designed, too, so you've got the design of the abutment on your three-shaper exocad, and you can design your crown and have it actually waiting for the abutment.
Oh, I bet.
That's right. Yeah, you can get.
Your abutment will be done before your crown. I mean, with the set green and all that, potentially. Totally reversed from everything that we've always done in the lab. The crown was sitting there waiting for the.
Abutment, which is one of the big advantages for labs. You can manage your workflow, your casework for sure.
All your turnaround time is waiting for the abutment. And this is good to go, launch, ready, everyone. You got a PM7, you're...
So it is, it's cleared, ready to go. We're just waiting for our stock to... to come in, that should come in about mid-April, be ready to ship end of April to customers. We're taking pre-orders right now for the holders. And that's what we're covering is the holders right now. And they have to make sure that they have the most recent updated CAM software as part of the process.
That's kind of good that you give them a month or so to get ready, get everything in line to launch.
That's right. That's right. And I will say, because of the demand that we're seeing, it does take Between desks and dental soft works, it takes time to prepare those holders and get them to us and then get them in inventory and then ship them out to customers. But we've had a significant amount of customers that have come up LMT and done pre-orders.
Nice.
Yeah.
And do they have to contact desk to say, I'm getting ready to do this? Validate me.
I bet.
They do not. Don't call me.
It's automatic though as long as they order the abutment.
They order the abutment parts from us or one of our partners. It's automatically. It's they're ready to go.
That's right. As long as they have the most up to date CAM software.
It's seriously plug and play, man.
That is huge for labs.
It is.
It makes it so easy. It's like a no-brainer.
Yeah, that's awesome.
We're the easy button.
Yes, big time.
Big easy button. I love it.
Elvis gave me one of those once on stage. Just press it.
That was a bleep.
Easy bleep, you know. Same thing.
Well, Casey, Darren, thank you so much. Thanks for having us. Really appreciate it. I think it's going to take it to a whole new level.
Absolutely. No doubt. Awesome.
Thank you guys for having the partnership and what can be. I really appreciate both of you being in the Ivoclar ballroom for the week. It's a beautiful setup. Folks haven't stopped out here.
You guys have done so much for us.
I thank our team, Grace Garrity, Tracy. John Isherwood have just gone, our marketing team has gone over and beyond with the beauty of this room. So I'm really excited about this.
Everybody has mentioned how beautiful this room is. You guys killed it this year.
It is amazing. It is amazing. I've been coming to these for 15 years. This is one of the nicer ones I've seen.
Absolutely.
And I think the education is top-notch to be able to mirror the beauty of the room with the quality of work that our presentations are as well.
Well, you talk about that. I'm A ceramist, so I'm watching all these beautiful crowns come up and everybody explaining the new material, the.
New material, the ceram art.
I'm getting that. next week. I can't wait. So it's really been fun for me.
Is that out now?
It is. It is. We're actually shipping that and we have customers that are enjoying that right now. Bingo.
I'm going to be one of them next week. So we'll hope so. Well, thank you guys.
So I just wrote your order down.
Yeah, I know. All right. Enjoy the rest of the meeting. Thank you so much. Take care. Thank you for having us. A huge thanks to Frederick, Casey, and Darren for sitting down with us on the big giant Ibaclar stage in their ballroom during Lab Day Chicago. I'm kind of sorry I missed the conversation with Frederick. I would have had him say, **** us again. But I know that Elvis is a fan of I-Cortica, and they did a great job talking about some of the new features. Any time companies can come together to make life easier in a lab, we are all for it. And thank you, Des and Ibaclar, for finding an easy solution for us labs. to mill our own abutments and keep us on the cutting edge while making more money and cutting down turnaround time.
Faster, better is two of the things we all want.
You know it.
All right, everybody, that's all we got for you. And we will talk to you next week. Yeah, see ya. This is the first time I've talked today.
Yeah, you gotta get warmed up.
The views and opinions expressed on the Voices from the Bench podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the host or Voices from the Bench LLC.