Established 1974• Serving Tennessee & the Southeast• Direct Technician Access• Hand-Finished In-House

Resources for Dentists

Answers before you send your first case.

The questions dentists ask us most — turnaround, case submission, scanners, billing, and how patient information is handled — plus practical guides from the bench. Rx forms and pre-paid shipping labels arrive in your new-client kit.

Frequently Asked

What new clients ask first.

Most cases ship in under five business days. Shipping back to you is in addition to that — please plan patient appointments accordingly. Call us to confirm timing for your specific case type.
Three options. Ship a conventional case using the Centric pre-paid label included in your new-client kit (the most common path — Rx, models, photos, anything else can go in the box). Send digital scans through your scanner's own cloud (3Shape Communicate, MyiTero, Medit Link) — call us at (931) 454-9339 to get connected the first time. Or call your assigned technician and we'll figure out the fastest path together. Patient information stays exclusively offline.
We stand behind our work. If something isn't right with a case, call us and we'll talk it through. Most situations get resolved with a single five-minute phone conversation.
All major systems — iTero, 3Shape TRIOS, Medit, Primescan, Carestream, plus any STL/PLY/OBJ from systems we haven't named. Send scans through your scanner's native cloud (3Shape Communicate, MyiTero, Medit Link), or on physical media with the rest of the case. Call us once to get your scanner connected to our intake — after that it's automatic.
Terms are set per account when you become a client. A paper invoice ships with each case (with full patient and procedure detail for your records). Monthly statements showing your account balance — by invoice number only, no patient detail — are available in the client portal, where you can pay your statement balance online by card. Card processing is handled by Stripe; Centric never sees your card information.
Patient information is never transmitted through our website or online portal. The client portal exists only for account balances and online payment of monthly statements — it shows invoice numbers, dates, and amounts, never patient names, case numbers, or procedure detail. Case content (Rx forms, scans, photos, impressions, paper invoices) is handled exclusively offline: shipping, courier, fax to the lab, or in person at the lab. Web contact forms are also not for patient-identifying information — please call the lab directly for anything case-related.
Yes — Centric is a ship-in/ship-out lab. Cases travel to and from the lab with pre-paid labels both ways, so practices across Tennessee, North Alabama, and the wider Southeast work with us as easily as a local practice. You choose the lab for the craft, not the zip code. Practices near the lab can also use our local pick-up and delivery.
Yes. New clients get 50% off their first case, plus a free new-client kit with pre-paid shipping labels, Rx forms, and shade guidance — a low-risk way to put our hand-finishing in a patient's mouth before you commit. Call (931) 454-9339 or request a kit to start.
Yes. We build implant-retained overdentures (locator, ball, and bar-retained), attachment-supported partials, and processed attachment pickups, compatible with all major implant systems — hand-finished for fit and esthetics like all our removable work. See implant-supported removables.

Guides for Dentists

Practical guidance from the bench.

Short, no-nonsense guides on the decisions that affect your removable and fixed cases. Have a specific case in mind? Call (931) 454-9339 and talk it through with a technician.

By Warren Currah, owner and master technician — 55 years in removable, fixed, and implant prosthetics.

Choosing a partial: cast metal vs. flexible nylon vs. acetal

Each partial material trades off rigidity, esthetics, and reparability, and the right call depends on the case. Cast metal frameworks are the most rigid and supportive — strong for longer spans and straightforward to reline later, with the trade-off of clasps that can show. Flexible nylon is metal-free, lightweight, and the most discreet — a good fit for esthetic-priority cases or a metal sensitivity, though it's more involved to reline. Acetal sits in between: metal-free like nylon but more rigid, useful when you want tooth- or gum-toned clasps with more support. We hand-finish every partial regardless of material. See the side-by-side comparison on our services page, or call and we'll recommend for your patient.

Getting a removable impression we can build from

A great removable starts with what reaches the bench. For final impressions, we get the best results when the full denture-bearing area is captured — borders included, and the post-dam region for uppers — with the periphery molded so the extensions are recorded. Clean, well-extended impressions free of pulls and voids in the critical areas let us set teeth and characterize tissue without guessing. Add pour-able models, a clear Rx, and your shade and mold preference; photos of the patient's smile and existing prosthesis help us match esthetics. Unsure on a tricky case? Call before you take the impression and we'll tell you exactly what we need.

Sending a digital scan to the lab

We accept scans from iTero, 3Shape TRIOS, Medit, Primescan, and Carestream, plus STL, PLY, or OBJ files from other systems. The simplest path is your scanner's own cloud — 3Shape Communicate, MyiTero, or Medit Link — connected to our intake; call us once at (931) 454-9339 to set that up and it's automatic after that. Include the opposing arch and a bite scan, capture clean, dry margins for fixed work, and add a clear Rx with shade and any photos. Prefer conventional impressions? We still pour models in-house — send them with a pre-paid label.

Choosing a fixed material: zirconia or PFM

Material choice comes down to the demands of the case. We work in two zirconia systems — Kuraray Noritake Katana and Ivoclar IPS e.max ZirCAD — engineered for posterior strength and, in the more translucent grades, esthetic enough for visible units. PFM remains a dependable, time-tested choice where you want a metal substructure, particularly on certain bridges. Posterior strength is built in CAD and milled to spec; anterior esthetics and finishing happen by hand at the bench. Tell us the tooth, the function, and the esthetic expectation, and we'll recommend the material we'd run.

Question we didn't answer?

Call us. You'll reach a person who knows what they're talking about.

(931) 454-9339
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