What is this post (series kickoff)?

Over the last few weeks, we ran a UK lab operations survey to understand what’s really happening inside case intake and order management. Not opinions. Not “digital dentistry” slogans. Actual day-to-day friction.

This is the first of a series where I’ll share small, useful slices of what we learned—each one with a practical takeaway you can steal and use, even if you never buy software from anyone.

What did the survey show?

A big reason labs feel permanently behind isn’t speed. Its inputs. Case information arrives through too many doors:

• Scanner portals like iTero and 3Shape are heavily used

• Medit and DS Core show up a lot, too

• Email, cloud links (WeTransfer/Dropbox), and even WhatsApp are still part of the mix

So the “front desk” of the lab is no longer a single door. It’s a street market.

And the lab becomes the integration layer between clinic habits, scanner ecosystems, and production reality.

Why is this bigger than admin?

Scanner ecosystems are designed to serve their workflow. Which is fair. 3Shape has its own portal for sharing case info and managing connections between practices and labs. Medit positions Medit Link as a layer of clinic–lab collaboration. iTero also runs its own environment.

None of this is “wrong”.

But when a lab is connected to multiple clinic groups, multiple scanners, and multiple submission habits… the lab pays the price in switching costs, missed context, and follow-ups.

This is where the “software conversation” often goes off-track.

Labs don’t need another portal.

They need a way to neutralise portal sprawl so intake returns to calm.

The “Integration Tax” (a simple mental model)

Every extra channel adds:

1. Search tax: Where is the case info?

2. Verification tax: is this a remake, a revision, or a new one?

3. Clarification tax: missing shade photos, attachments, IPR notes, and due dates

4. Status tax: the “where is it?” calls and messages

Your survey literally calls this out in daily headaches: missing info and “where is it?” keep surfacing as recurring pain.

What good looks like (even without new software)

If you do one thing this month, do this: Define a single “intake truth” per case, not a portal. Not a spreadsheet. A case record (even if it’s manual today) that answers:

• What arrived, from where, when

• What’s missing

• Who owns chasing it

• What production can start now, vs what must wait

That’s it. That alone reduces rework and technician interruptions.

Where Smile Genius fits (light touch)

What we’re building with Smile Genius Lab Hub is essentially this: a neutral intake layer that sits above channels and pulls case context into one place - so labs aren’t punished for the industry’s channel chaos.