Improving the Quality of Dental Laboratory Prescription Forms Through Training and Digital Workflow

Communication between dentists and dental technicians traditionally depends on handwritten lab prescription forms. This method often results in issues like illegible handwriting, missing data, or lost forms, particularly among dental students. A digital platform was developed to address these challenges and streamline the transfer of patient information and preserve lab records. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of structured training on prosthodontic lab form completion and to assess the effectiveness of a newly developed digital lab form in enhancing communication and workflow between dental students and technicians.

Structured training sessions were delivered to year 4 and year 5 dentistry students, involving practical exercises with mock patient records to complete paper-based lab forms. Students' feedback contributed to the creation of standardized form completion guidelines. A total of 156 lab forms (before and after training) were evaluated against a set of predetermined criteria by two independent examiners. Based on these criteria, a digital web application was developed, and year 5 students were introduced to the digital platform through a workshop and asked to complete forms for two sample prosthodontic cases. These digital submissions were assessed using the same criteria. Three datasets were analyzed: (1) quality of paper forms pre- and posttraining, (2) comparison of posttraining paper vs. digital forms, and (3) frequency of completed criteria. An email survey also collected student feedback on the training and digital platform. This mixed-methods study combined quantitative assessment of the quality of laboratory prescription forms before and after training with qualitative feedback obtained from students and dental laboratory technicians regarding their experiences with the digital laboratory prescription platform.

Posttraining paper-based forms improved significantly (mean score 11.12, standard deviation [SD] 1.35) compared to pretraining forms (mean 9.29, SD 1.49; p  < 0.01). Digital forms showed the highest quality (mean 13.00, SD 0.00) and outperformed year 4 posttraining paper forms (mean 10.84, SD 1.43; p  < 0.001). Digital forms also had significantly higher completion rates for required fields (p  < 0.01). Survey responses indicated the digital platform reduced errors, improved completeness, and strengthened communication with lab technicians. Training helped students identify common omissions and improved their understanding of lab form requirements.

The digital lab form significantly enhanced the accuracy and completeness of prosthodontic prescriptions. Mandatory fields helped prevent incomplete submissions. The platform shows strong potential to improve clinic-laboratory communication and workflow in dental education and practice.