Challenge: Traditional removable partial denture production required many manual steps, significant technician time, and a high level of hands-on expertise, making RPD production hard to scale.
Solution: Bismarck-Mandan adopted the TrueSnap monolithic Truedent 3D printed denture components with digitally produced metal frameworks for a more controlled digital partial denture workflow.
Result: The three-person lab can produce more removable partial dentures in less time, with more predictable fit, fewer chairside adjustments, and fewer remakes.
At Bismarck-Mandan Dental Laboratory in Bismarck, North Dakota, removable partial dentures, often referred to as RPDs, have been central to the business for generations. Today, the lab uses the TrueSnap workflow to combine TrueDent® 3D printed denture components with metal frameworks for more efficient, predictable RPD production.
Ken Kincaid leads the business alongside his brothers, carrying forward the family-owned lab’s long-standing focus on removable prosthetics and customer service. But over the last few years, as labor pressures and expectations for turnaround time, fit, and aesthetics all continued to increase, the traditional process was becoming significantly harder to sustain.
The situation started to improve when Kincaid adopted TrueDent® for denture production and, more recently, added the TrueSnap workflow for RPDs, combining monolithic TrueDent 3D printed denture components with digitally produced metal frameworks.
“Using the TrueDent system and the BEGO SLM frames has completely revolutionized the way we are doing our partials,” said Kincaid. What had been a manual, multi-step process requiring hours of skilled labor and built around waxing, burnout, casting, and processing became a streamlined CAD/CAM workflow where the denture components and framework are designed and produced digitally from the same case data.
Before going digital, removable partial dentures were produced through labor-intensive methods that required significant technician time and introduced variability at multiple stages. Cases often took days to complete, and scaling the business meant adding people, a growing challenge in an environment where experienced technicians were increasingly difficult to find.
For a small team, TrueSnap made it possible to increase output without adding the same level of manual bench time. Kincaid explains that the lab can now produce significantly more work than it could under its previous model. “Our volume is being able to be doubled, tripled, or even quintupled within the same amount of time frame,” said Kincaid. “What used to take us two or three days, now we can get done in a matter of hours.”
That added capacity changed how the lab staffs and schedules work. Instead of needing the larger team it once had, Bismarck-Mandan is now able to maintain the same client workload with a much leaner operation. As Kincaid describes it, he and his two brothers are able to produce the same amount of work and serve the same client base they once did as a seven-person laboratory.
The lab gained speed without compromising quality. Kincaid can now design partial frameworks quickly, print components overnight, and assemble highly aesthetic final cases through a process that is more manageable, enabling more cases without sacrificing fit or appearance.
One of the biggest frustrations in conventional RPD production is the human factor. Small deviations in processing can create fit issues, opened bites, tooth movement, and remakes. These problems consume valuable lab time, create additional chair time for clinicians, and cause frustration for patients.
Digital production helped Bismarck-Mandan remove much of that variability. “Human error was the biggest problem that we had in traditional processing,” said Kincaid. “Since we moved to digital, we take the human error out.” He describes the new process as consistent, repeatable, and dependable, with the same digital design driving both the printed denture components and the metal framework.
That consistency is evident in the two areas that most directly impact delivery: fit and consistency. “What we see on a screen is what we’re going to get for a final product,” said Kincaid. Because the workflow is digitally controlled from design through production, the lab has greater confidence that the denture and framework will fit together accurately and that the final appliance will fit correctly in the patient’s mouth.
Clinicians see the difference at delivery, where fewer adjustments can mean shorter appointments and less chair time for patients. According to Kincaid, doctors don’t need to schedule as many appointments with each patient and patients are spending less time in the chair during each visit as well. In his view, that the lab is helping clinicians deliver a smoother patient experience is one of the clearest signs of success. Just as importantly, remakes have largely disappeared. “We don’t have any remakes,” said Kincaid, who attributes that improvement to the consistency of the digital process and the reduced opportunity for processing errors.
Aesthetics are especially demanding in removable partial dentures because the restoration must blend with adjacent natural teeth. 3D printed denture components often limit laboratories to a narrow shade range, making it difficult to achieve a seamless match.
That is where multi-shade TrueDent components printed simultaneously on the same build plate give the lab more control over shade matching. Kincaid emphasized that the ability to work with more shade variation is particularly valuable in partial cases. “Instead of having a light, medium, and dark, with Stratasys, we have the whole spectrum that we can use to match the dentition of the patient’s opposing arches,” said Kincaid. “That’s really handy when you’re doing partials because partial dentures are just part of the teeth; they’re not the full mouth.”
For patients, the shade match can make the difference between a partial that looks like a restoration and one that blends into their smile. Better shade matching helps the restoration blend naturally into the patient’s smile, improving confidence and acceptance. Kincaid describes the reaction the lab hopes to create: “One of the biggest compliments these people are going to get is, ‘Gee, I didn’t know you wore dentures.’” For the lab, and for the clinicians it serves, that kind of response shows that the partial is blending in naturally.
Another advantage of TrueSnap is repeatability. Because cases are digitally designed and stored, the lab can quickly reproduce the same appliance again if needed. If a patient loses a partial or denture, the team can refabricate it without restarting the case from scratch. That reduces disruption for the patient and minimizes additional work for the clinician.
Because TrueDent prints true-to-design, the lab can produce exact replacements from the original case data. That precision matters whether the lab is fabricating a first appliance or replacing a lost one. Kincaid describes a recent case where the lab completed a denture and partial in just two appointments, without taking traditional impressions or fabricating physical models. “Everything was accurate exactly as we saw it on the screen.” Kincaid recalls that the patient was nearly in tears because the appliance fit comfortably and was delivered so quickly.
Kincaid notes that the digital partial denture workflow enables RPD production that is accurate and repeatable every time. In practical terms, that means reliable, aesthetic dentures and partials, fewer chairside adjustments at delivery, and a process that is easier for a small team to manage than the traditional process.
The impact goes beyond production speed. With less manual bench time and fewer remakes, Kincaid and his brothers can handle the lab’s workload with a smaller team and a more predictable schedule.
For Bismarck-Mandan Dental Laboratory, the move to TrueSnap shows how digital production can change partial denture fabrication in a small lab setting. By combining monolithic TrueDent® denture components with digital metal frameworks, the lab now produces 3D printed partial dentures more quickly, with greater predictability and more natural-looking aesthetics.
Kincaid sees the TrueSnap digital partial denture workflow as an important part of how the lab plans to keep growing. The lab now has an efficient, repeatable process that delivers consistent quality, supports clinicians, and helps patients leave with restorations that look natural and fit right the first time.
