The article we created along with Dr Tim Doswell on the Atlantis duplicate technique (which was originally published in the EDI Journal and Implant Dentistry Today) is being re published online and in print in the USA.

Well done Tim!

It's been a good news day at the lab.

As well as some fantastic feedback and images on recent cases, we've just been contacted by our friends at Bredent UK to let us know that the head office in Germany would like to re publish Iain's Visio.lign article in a Canadian publication.

British dental technology, using excellent German materials being published in China and Canada. Well done Iain, well deserved recognition of your work and talent.

In the article Iain shows a step by step guide on how to go from setup to finish of a Visio.lign case on a CAD/CAM titanium framework.

Maybe they need someone to lecture out there too???

New ADi Technical representative appointed

We'd like to congratulate our very own Steve Campbell on his appointment as ADi technical representative from 2013 to 2015, Steve will be taking over the role from John Wibberley and knows it will be a very hard act to follow.

Steve would like to thank Mark, Ange and all the team at the lab for their help and support which allows him to take on these extra roles, and would also to thank anyone that voted for him.

We have recently started to use Digital Smile Designs to assist our implant surgeons when it comes to  explaining the potential benefits of having grafting or GBR on an implant placement.

To make it quick and easy we simply take a picture that the surgeon has provided of the case they have aesthetic concerns over and then use this to do a quick mock up of how the final teeth may look if the patient decides they just want to have the implant placement without any grafting or GBR.

At the very least it allows the patient to clearly visualise the potential aesthetic compromise that may occur if they choose not to have the Grafting or GBR

Of course none of these are guaranteed outcomes and in fact we are careful to show that the false tissue may in fact not be a perfect match, but it does offer a clear visual indicator of where we are likely to end up if the patient feels that Grafting or GBR are not right for them.

We have found that by working together with our surgeons and offering this service at the very beginning that the patients are much better informed and able to make a choice based on clear visual information.

In this way we all hope to avoid a situation where the patient does not really understand just what we mean when we say they may end up with 'longer looking teeth' or a false tissue that attempts to make the proportion of the teeth look right, but may not be a perfect match to the pink tissue for a number or reasons, particularly in short span anterior cases.

We are always looking for ways to assist our surgeons and ensure that everyone is satisfied with the end result, this Digital Smile Design service is just another of the useful tools that we offer to our partners in order to ensure we make their management of cases simple and predicable.

Our latest addition to the ceramic team has created 5 beautiful teeth from ceramic to show his understanding of nature and tooth morphology.

We will soon be presenting all 5 once we have our photoshoot done at the locate gallery, but for now here's one of them that Jack has made as a little teaser of the beautiful work to come.

There's nothing worse than having a secret you cannot talk about, and due to a number of Beta programs we are currently running with our partners in the lab we find ourselves with lots of secrets to keep.

Which is why it's a great relief to finally be able to talk about the Atlantis titanium crown abutments that we have been working on in the lab in Beta trials with Atlantis abutments and Dentsply implants.

For many years there has been a struggle to get a good aesthetic result and stable bond to titanium which is why most labs have tended to stay with the bonding alloys or chrome which we know well and avoid the potential for aesthetic issues that early titanium bonding systems could produce.

However, when it comes to implants there is undoubtedly an advantage to using titanium as the substructure materials for our bonded crowns, and during our in house testing we have been getting fantastic results with the Duceram Kiss porcelain which has been specially developed for fusing to titanium which ensures beautiful aesthetics and a strong stable bond.

Atlantis abutments, which are supplied by Dentsply implants have up until now only been available as a crown abutment (meaning a nucleus design that is intended to have ceramic layered and fired directly onto it, rather than a cement retained crown) in zirconia, which although a good materials is not what we prefer to use in the molar region for our implant crowns.

Kiss ceramic was not the only system we were trialling on on these cases (although the results with this have been very impressive) we also have another system as we want to really test these new abutments and see if we can generate any problems. We will share more on the other ceramic systems once we have some images ready to publish.

Maximum strength & biocompatibility

For us this is a very exciting day, we now are able to offer our surgeons the opportunity to use the most biocompatible material available when restoring their implants, with the confidence of a great aesthetic result and bond strength as our tests have so far shown no negative outcomes.

This is how the new atlantis titanium crown abutment comes back to the lab.

You can see on the case that this is indeed a milled Atlantis titanium crown abutment.

Cost efficient

The other great news is that we can offer the new titanium bonded screw retained crowns at the same cost as our screw retained chrome units, which on average also save the surgeon £80 compared to traditional cast gold screw retained crowns.

No compromise

Once again we are managing to utilise CAD/CAM to deliver a restoration that is of a higher quality and biocompatibility to the traditional cast and also offer a saving purely on the efficiency and consistency that CAD/CAM technology offers us. This new option to our clients ties in perfectly with our belief in delivering excellence and avoiding all compromise.

Final result

If you would like to offer Titanium bonded implant restorations to your patients then get in touch with Sean on 01765 607347 and he will get all the details to you or email sean@www.ambridgeceramics.co.uk.

This year has been very exciting as we have continued to deliver many improved restorative solutions for our clients, and we will soon be able to share even more of the projects that we have secretly been working on here at the lab.

It feels so much better to finally be able to let that one out of the bag!

Christmas notice already?! I'm afraid we did but We’re just trying to give enough notice to allow for patient scheduling over this period by your surgery team.

Laboratory closure during Christmas period 2013

The lab will be closed from Tuesday 24th December 2013

and will re-opened on Thursday 2nd January 2014

Collection & delivery

The last collection will be Monday 23rd December 2013

The first delivery after will be Thursday 2nd January 2014

Work required for fitting before Christmas

All work which needs fitting before Christmas must be received by the laboratory on the 9th December

Any work received after the 9th December will need an additional 6 days to the usual 2 weeks required in the lab to allow for the closure period

For example a job received in the lab on the 13th December 2013 would be returned for fit on the 7h January 2014

Please take the chance to plan the appointments accordingly to avoid any disappointment for your patients.

Here's a link to the pdf so you can save or print it off for quick reference https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3248981/Christmas%20Closing%202013.pdf

We were blown away by the incredible interest in ISUS CAD/CAM technology for implant restorations last night in Birmingham. It was literally standing room only for the talk by Steve and Tim.

Here's Dr Tim Doswell giving a compelling presentation on the inconsistency and potential problems with outdated cast screw retained implant restorations.

Don't get us wrong, we love "hand made" items, in fact it's a label we look for, but only when we are at a local food market or craft shop.

When it comes to medical devices on implant fixtures however we prefer to offer our surgeons and their patients precise, clinically superior, consistent and cost effective screw retained implant restorations.

CAD/CAM isn't a revolution, it's just evolution.

If you would like to know more about CAD/CAM screw retained restorations from Atlantis ISUS or have a case in mind then we have a dedicated page for this on our site.

We're incredibly proud of the team for taking on the challenge of The Spartan Race Yorkshire 2013.

It's a fun challenge and it was fantastic to see the team soak it all up and come out of the other side raring for more.

We always knew we had a great team but the effort and support they showed to each other on this challenge really showed what a great team they are,

Our friend Sarah Glover was there as an Ambridge Ceramics Spartan Racer showing that anything a technician can do, a dentist can match. Not only did Sarah get the finishers medal & Spartan T Shirt, she was luck enough to leave with an exclusive Ambridge Ceramics Spartan Racer Vest!

So, what was it like? We've got a few snapshots from the day to help tell the story

For many of these pictures we must thank Richard Egan, Melissa Duncan, Adam Glassford and anyone else who helped us capture some fantastic memories of our fun in the mud.

Here was the team before the start, all ready and raring to go.

When we got to the start we were given a little warm up from this Spartan, after his rousing speech there was no stopping us, right up until the first of the 3 very steep hills that is....

There were a few nasty sprains, twists and cuts on the day though, We think Mark Ambridge wins with this beauty (the split eyebrow might just help add to the winner)