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If your assistant calls the lab 3-4 times a day for 10 minutes each, that can amount to 15 hours a month – it's worth calculating the true cost.
Monday, 9:15 AM. The assistant disappears from reception. She calls the lab: "Is my crown ready yet?" Reply: "It will be ready on Tuesday." She returns.
Monday, 11:30 AM. She calls again: "I'd like to confirm – which one exactly?" The lab doesn't remember. She returns to the office. Talks to the doctor. Checks the system again.
Monday, 2:00 PM. A patient calls, surprised: "When can I come for the try-in?" The assistant calls the lab (because she doesn't know). Lab: "Maybe Wednesday?" The assistant has to reschedule.
Monday, 3:45 PM. A problem with the previous case. The lab says corrections are needed, and the patient is waiting. The assistant looks for the doctor. Together they call the lab for a three-way conversation.
Four phone calls a day. Each lasting 10–15 minutes. This is not an exception. This is the norm.
1. Case Status (morning). The assistant arrives at the office, checks which cases are due today – calls the lab: "Do I have 4 cases to pick up today?" 7–10 minutes.
2. Patient Question (during the day). A patient is waiting for a crown, asks the assistant when it will be ready. The assistant has to call: "When will Mr. X's case be ready?" 5–8 minutes.
3. Technical Problem (during the day). A patient comes for a try-in, the restoration doesn't fit. The assistant calls: "Something's not right here, can I send it back to the lab?" 10–15 minutes (sometimes with the doctor).
4. Organizational (before closing). The assistant prepares the order for tomorrow, needs to confirm how much time the lab needs: "Do you understand this order? Is everything clear?" 5–10 minutes.
Total daily: 27–43 minutes. Conservatively, take 40 minutes per day.
Per month (22 working days): 40 min × 22 = 880 minutes = 14.7 hours.
Assistant's wage: average 30 PLN/hour (gross), which with taxes costs the practice ~45 PLN/hour.
Monthly: 14.7 h × 45 PLN = 661.5 PLN/month.
Annually: 661.5 × 12 = 7938 PLN.
This is just the direct cost of the assistant's time on the phone.
The assistant works at reception. She handles patients, facilitates office procedures, manages schedules. Every time she disappears for a phone call – her work context is interrupted.
Context switching (shifting focus between tasks) costs an average of 23 minutes of effective work. The assistant returns from the call and has to regain focus on the previous task.
4 phone calls a day × 23 minutes of context switching = 92 minutes a day = 1.5 hours a day of wasted productivity.
Monthly: 1.5 h × 22 days = 33 hours of wasted productivity due to context switching.
Cost: 33 h × 45 PLN = 1485 PLN/month = 17 820 PLN/year.
Total: direct cost (7938 PLN) + context switching cost (17 820 PLN) = 25 758 PLN annually.
This is significantly more than you initially thought.
Phone communication = high chance of errors.
— Assistant says: "crown for the upper left incisor" (she meant 1.1, but the lab understood 1.2).
— Lab says: "it will be ready on Tuesday" (they meant next Tuesday, the assistant thinks in 2 days).
— Assistant describes the problem: "something is black here" (but doesn't specify if it's the buccal or lingual part of the crown).
Communication errors = extra calls, extra corrections, extra inconvenience for the patient.
Estimated: 10–15% of case problems stem from verbal communication errors. That's an additional 1–2 corrections per week, each costing ~645 PLN (from our first article).
1.5 corrections per week × 645 PLN = 967.5 PLN/week = 50 310 PLN/year from communication errors alone.
deltalabs. provides a digital portal for dentists: real-time case status, timeline, asynchronous communication (messages instead of calls).
How this changes the numbers:
— Instead of calling, the assistant opens the portal. Status is visible in real-time. No need to call.
— If there's a question: the assistant sends a message on the portal. The lab responds within 2 hours (asynchronously, without interrupting lab work).
— No context switching: the assistant does not "disappear" from reception. She works on the portal in the background when she has a moment.
— No communication errors: everything is written, marked with case ID, dates – no misunderstandings.
Savings:
— You eliminate 40 minutes a day × 22 days = 14.7 hours a month = saving 661.5 PLN/month = 7938 PLN/year directly.
— You eliminate context switching = saving 1485 PLN/month = 17 820 PLN/year.
— You eliminate verbal communication errors = saving ~50 000 PLN/year on fewer corrections.
Total: ~75 758 PLN annually just by using digital communication instead of phone calls.
This is more than the cost of using a different laboratory.
LABORATORY PERSPECTIVE
In practices without digital communication, an assistant can spend up to 15 hours a month on the phone with the lab. It's worth calculating how much this costs you.
Lack of guidelines, phone as the sole channel, and skipping the mock-up. These 3 mistakes cost your practice 8,000–14,000 PLN per month.
"A nice crown, please" is not an instruction — it’s a problem. Lack of precision generates corrections and chaos that costs labs and practices thousands.
An operatory minute is 8–15 PLN in revenue. If you lose 5 hours a month to adjustments and chaos—that's 30,000–50,000 PLN annually.
Get in touch — we'll discuss your case and find the optimal solution.
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