The Guidelines for Dentist/Dental Laboratory Relations were first established in 1987 in cooperative effort between the Illinois State Dental Society and the Illinois Dental Laboratory Association. These Guidelines are voluntary for members of both organizations and we hope they will be useful to assist dentists and laboratories in further understanding their respective responsibilities.

The Dentist:

1. The Dentist shall provide a properly prepared and signed prescription to the laboratory or technician according the to Illinois Dental Practice Act. The prescription shall detail the work which is to be performed, describe the materials which are to be used and be written in a clear and understandable fashion. A duplicate copy of the prescription must be retained for 3 years.
2. The Dentist should provide the Laboratory/Technician with accurate impressions, casts, bite registrations, and or mounted casts.
3. The Dentist should identify the margins, postdate, borders, the areas to be relieved or omitted, and design partials on all cases.
4. The Dentist should furnish a shade (color) description, photograph, drawing, or shade button which matches the patient’s teeth most closely. If desired, the Dentist may also send the patient, with a written prescription, to the Laboratory/Technician for the purpose of directly determining the shade selection.
5. The Dentist should provide verbal or written approval to proceed with a laboratory procedure, or make any appropriate change(s) as the Dentist deems necessary, when notified by a Laboratory/Technician that a case may have a questionable area with respect to paragraphs 2-4.
6. The Dentist should alert the Laboratory/Technician about the patient’s health status if a serious communicable disease exists or is suspected. In such case, however, the Dentist is not required to identify the patient by name but has the option of using a patient identification number. If a number is used, the patient’s name must be written on the duplicate copy of the prescription retained by the Dentist.
7. The Dentist should thoroughly clean all blood and saliva from all materials used in the mouth (e.g. impression materials, occlusal registrations, intra-oral appliances, etc.) and should disinfect these items according to ADA recommendations before sending them to the Laboratory/Technician. Any appliance returned from the Laboratory/Technician should be disinfected, washed and rinsed before it is placed in the patient’s mouth. Care should be taken that all materials are placed in an appropriate container provided by either the laboratory or the dentist and should be packed properly to prevent breakage. Work to be shipped to a Laboratory/Technician should be packaged and transported according to current infection control standards.
8. The Dentist may, when it is mutually advantageous for the patient and Dentist, and when it is specified in the prescription, have the patient deliver and/or pick up an appliance directly from a Laboratory/Technician provided the patient returns to the Dentist’s office to have the appliance evaluated, placed, and to have any necessary adjustments made. In the event a patient drops off or picks up an appliance, laboratory personnel shall not engage in any activity which involve the trying on or fitting of appliances with patients, or any other activity with patients, with the exception of permitted shade taking as described earlier.
9. The Dentist should return all casts, registrations and appliances to the Laboratory/Technician intact and structurally undamaged if an appliance does not fit properly or if the shade selection is incorrect.