An Open Approach to Digital Design.
A complete open-architecture CAD software platform for single-visit dentistry, ChairsideCAD offers a flexible digital workflow and simplified user experience
As a dentist who also owns a laboratory, Dr. Gulshan Murgai was already using the lab version of exocad when the company’s ChairsideCAD software was released. So, it just made sense for him to add the clinical version of the platform to his practice.
At the time, he was using a competitor’s product that limited what he could do. ChairsideCAD, an open-architecture CAD software platform for single-visit dentistry, offers the ultimate flexibility, he said, giving him more reason to make the switch. “It meant I had fewer restrictions,” Dr. Murgai said, “and that was my primary goal.”
Transitioning his open intraoral scanner system to the intuitive ChairsideCAD software was straightforward, he said, as is his current workflow. He completes the tooth preparation, scans it, and then exports the data straight into ChairsideCAD. From there, he can design the restoration and send it directly to his in-house mill or to a lab for quick fabrication. This allows him to keep straightforward cases in-house and send more complex and financially lucrative cases to the lab—what he describes as a win-win situation.
“With this level of communication and collaboration being available to practitioners worldwide, it means patients get a more predictable end result.”
- Dr. Gulshan Murgai
The software’s step-by-step guide makes designing restorations easy, allowing team members to become comfortable with the new workflow quickly. “I have new users that in the first 6 or 7 weeks have created 50 to 60 restorations,” Dr. Murgai said. “That's lucrative.”
The Patient Benefit
Dr. Murgai designs restorations while patients watch on the big screen, getting them involved in the process. “They can see the design process really closely. For example, they can visualize what we've done with their teeth and why this type of restoration was required,” he said. “And then we take patients to the milling machine where they can actually watch their restoration being made.”
While not required, working with a lab that uses DentalCAD allows for even better communication and easier collaboration through the dentalshare platform. There’s no need for third-party software; it’s all built into exocad. "With this level of communication and collaboration being available to practitioners worldwide, it means patients get a more predictable end result,” Dr. Murgai said. “That usually means they get a quicker—and hopefully cheaper—result.
