The return on investment (ROI) for your practice when you invest in digital in-office equipment is a well-known benefit and financial metric. In this context, the ROI refers to the calculations you may make in order to balance the cost of the equipment against the savings you’ll experience by eliminating lab costs and other expenses that the equipment makes obsolete. Also typically included in the calculation is the profit increase you experience by treating more patients in the same amount of time, while attracting new patients with same-visit crowns. With those factors in mind, it’s nearly always the case that the financial ROI of a purchase like the glidewell.io^™ In-Office Solution will put you in the black. But when it comes to glidewell.io, financial ROI is only the beginning.

There are other ways that digital dentistry, particularly in-office milling, benefits your practice, staff and patients, resulting in an overall increase in workflow efficiency and clinical control that leads to better outcomes, as well as convenience that enhances patient satisfaction. These additional benefits may not translate directly to currency, but they have an undeniable positive impact on the function of your business and the treatment you’re able to provide.

In-office systems like glidewell.io make it possible to adapt your office workflow in ways that improve efficiency, saving money and time while making it easier to provide more patients with superior care. The simplification that digital dentistry brings to the process of designing, milling and delivering same-visit crowns also provides a list of benefits that are less obvious at first but no less important to consider:

1. Give yourself more time. Invest your hours at work in performing other treatments and spending more time with your patients. By releasing you from the daily grind of the multiple time-consuming steps required to deliver traditional crowns, you’re freer to do the things you love – both inside your practice and outside of it.
   
2. Lessen the stress of the work environment. The dental practice doesn’t need to be a stressful place for your staff. Simplifying the crown workflow with digital tools means that everyone is less busy and has more time to invest in patient care. Because the workflow is flexible, staff can handle different steps of the process at the same time. Crowns can be designed and milled while treatment is being provided to other patients, minimizing time crunches and maximizing the amount of dental care provided. Team members are also benefiting from the experience gained in working with the new technology to stay competitive in the market. Who doesn’t have a better time — and do a better job — when they can slow down and absorb their work while completing more of it?
   
3. Deliver the ultimate patient experience. A convenient crown procedure that takes less time, creates a lot less pain and gives the same excellent results equals a fantastic experience for patients. The value of that, especially when you factor in return visits, referrals and overall satisfaction, is immeasurable.

Doctors who use in-office systems like glidewell.io gain an incredible advantage in the amount of clinical control they are able to keep over the restoration from start to finish. With the restoration completed entirely in-house, doctors and their staff can monitor each stage and make customizations to suit the patient’s needs. During the design proposal phase of the workflow, you have the ability to either select the highly accurate AI-driven proposals offered or make custom adjustments to them. Many doctors prefer to take the proposals just as they come from the fastdesign.io software. Others prefer to adjust details such as margins, occlusion and even the shape of the restorations. The point, of course, is that as the doctor, you’re fully in control of which course to take and what the final outcome will be.

And that control isn’t just beneficial to the doctors and staff. It’s also hugely preferred and appreciated by patients, especially considering that it limits adjustments required in the seating of the restoration and results in a better-fitting, more esthetic result overall.

There may be no component of having a successful practice more important than the trust and satisfaction of the patients you treat. Happy, comfortable patients come back when they need more care — and they recommend you to their friends, increasing your patient count in ways that positively impact your bottom line. What’s more, as a doctor, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re giving your patient the best possible experience and outcome.

With digital in-office equipment like glidewell.io, patients are thrilled to learn that the restoration they receive tends to be very close to their existing or previous dentition, which makes adaptation to the new restoration easier while also limiting the chair time needed for adjustments. The need for anesthesia, which can be both costly and stressful for patients, is also minimized — going under for a needed procedure once is one thing, but doing it twice can be quite another if a remake is required.

Of course, the major selling point with patients has always been the ability to deliver restorations without the need for a follow-up visit — while ensuring that those restorations are made from an industry-leading material that offers strength and longevity, such as BruxZir NOW. The combination of speed and superior results offered by a system like glidewell.io remains the best possible way to ensure a healthy ROI that increases your patients’ satisfaction with both their treatment process and their overall outcomes.

ROI may typically refer to the particular financial details involved when making an investment in something like digital in-office equipment, and then calculating your new profit based on how much it saves you in other areas of expense — as well as the increase in patients you’re able to treat. While the ROI of a system like glidewell.io in these terms is already evident, it’s important not to overlook the many other ways in which the investment gives back to you, your staff, and your patients.

The lab savings and increased profit of adding a system like glidewell.io to your office are really only a small part of the ROI it can deliver. The benefits only increase from there.