Dental lab software: every case from the dentist's order to the paid invoice

Most labs start the same way. A dentist calls or sends a message, someone writes the job on a slip or in a notebook, the impression goes on a shelf, and the owner keeps the rest in their head. With two technicians and a handful of clinics, that works. It stops working quietly, and then all at once.

The signs are familiar:

• A due date nobody saw. The order came in by phone on Monday, the slip ended up under another tray, and on Thursday the clinic calls to ask where the crown is.
• Work that was finished but never billed. A remake, an extra unit, a repair done as a favour: when invoices are written later from memory, some of them are never written.
• Balances nobody can state. “How much does this clinic owe us?” takes an evening with bank statements and a spreadsheet, and the answer is still a guess.
• Questions only one person can answer. Which stage is the bridge at? Who is doing the porcelain? When the owner is away, the lab slows down.

None of this is a people problem. It is an information problem: the facts about each case are spread across a phone, a slip, a shelf and a spreadsheet, and nothing connects them. Dental lab software exists to put those facts into one record and keep them there, from the moment the order arrives until the money is in.

Software does not make a lab faster by itself. It makes every case visible, and visible work is work that gets finished on time and paid for.

Before you compare programs, agree on what a single case record must hold. Whatever you use, paper included, each order should answer these questions without a phone call:

There is a regulatory reason to keep this record, too. In the European Union, a crown or a denture made to a dentist's prescription is a custom-made medical device under Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices (external link). Its Annex XIII asks the manufacturer to keep a statement for each device for at least ten years after it is placed on the market, and fifteen for implantable devices. Kosovo and Albania have their own medical-device rules, and your obligations depend on where you deliver. The habit is good everywhere: for every piece of work, you should be able to say who ordered it, for which patient, when it came in, who worked on it and when it left.

Here is the path of one order through OPALEVI for dental laboratories, from the dentist's call to the paid invoice. The words in bold are the names you see on the screen.

1. 1

   The clinic becomes a client

   Each dentist or practice that sends you work is a client with its own file: contact person, address, telephone, business number and email. The business number prints on every invoice you make out to that clinic, and the file gathers the clinic's orders, what was invoiced, what was paid and what is still owed.

2. 2

   Take the order

   Choose New order, pick the client, and write the patient, the date received and the deadline. The order gets its own code (P-00001, P-00002 and so on). Add the work from your price list with Choose priced work…, or type a line such as “Zirconia crown 21” with its quantity and price.

3. 3

   Plan the stages

   Under Work stages, choose the stations the case passes through, in the order it passes them: CAD/CAM, then porcelain work, for example. A new lab starts with six stations (crowns and bridges, dental implants, dentures, CAD/CAM, porcelain work and reception), and you can rename, add or archive them under Settings → Work units.

4. 4

   Work the case

   Technicians press Start and Finish on their stages, on the order itself or on the Lab workflow board. The order's status follows on its own: pending, in progress, and completed once every stage is done.

5. 5

   Deliver

   Print the Order sheet to travel with the work, with lines for who delivered it and who received it, then choose Mark as delivered. The delivery date is stamped on the order.

6. 6

   Invoice

   Press Invoice this order. The order's lines are copied onto the invoice, the order's lines lock so the two cannot drift apart, and the order links to its invoice.

7. 7

   Get paid

   Record the payment as cash, card or bank transfer. Until it is paid in full, the amount waits under Outstanding balances, oldest first, with a Collect button beside it.

Two plain notes about details. OPALEVI has no tooth chart or shade picker on the order: technicians write the tooth numbers and the shade in the work line or in the notes. And it does not store scans or photos on the order, so STL files stay in your scanner's software or in the email they came with, referenced by the order code.

A missed due date costs more than the remake. The dentist has to move a patient, and starts to wonder whether the next case should go elsewhere. Good lab software does not just store the deadline; it puts it in front of the people who can still do something about it.

In OPALEVI the same deadline appears in four places:

• Orders, the list of every order, where you can filter by status and search by order code, client or patient.
• Lab workflow, a board with the stages of every open order in three columns (pending, in progress, completed) and quick filters for My tasks, Due today and Overdue. Cards can be dragged between columns, and handed to another technician of the same station.
• Delivery calendar, a month of what has to leave the lab each day, coloured by status.
• Today, the first screen a technician sees: their own tasks, what is due today, what is overdue and the next stage waiting for them.

On a phone, the bar at the bottom of the screen opens straight to Orders, the Calendar and the Lab workflow board, so a technician can check the day's work at the bench without walking to a computer.

Labs bill in one of two rhythms: per case, as each order is delivered, or once a month per clinic. Whichever you use, one rule holds: the invoice should come from the order, not from memory.

In OPALEVI, invoicing a case is one step. Invoice this order copies the priced lines onto either a regular invoice, numbered in an unbroken sequence (F-00001, F-00002…) that can be cancelled but never deleted, or a pro-invoice, for a clinic that wants a figure before the final invoice. A pro-invoice can later be turned into a regular one. Labs that bill monthly have the same facts in one place: the client's file lists every order with its value, and New invoice for this client starts the month's invoice from there.

The first time you invoice, OPALEVI asks once for your business details (name, address, city and business number) so every invoice carries them. Invoices print or download as PDF, go out by email, and show your bank details for clinics that pay by transfer.

Who owes us money?

That is the question every owner asks, and it should take seconds. Outstanding balances lists what client clinics still owe the lab, oldest invoice first, and flags what is overdue. Each client's file tells the same story for one clinic: the value of its orders, how much was invoiced, how much was paid and the debt that remains.

If your lab takes cash at the counter, the Cash box opens the day with a starting amount and closes it with the cash you count, so a short or an over day shows at once. Clinics that ask for a price first can receive an offer, which is invoiced in one step once they accept; offers are switched on under Settings → Application menus.

A lab has people who need different things, and the money is not everybody's business. In OPALEVI each person has a role:

• Dental technician: takes orders in, works on them and hands them back; sees offers, but not the lab's money. A technician cannot add clients or issue invoices.
• Reception: books the work in, answers the clinics, issues invoices and takes payment at the desk.
• Finance / Accounting: keeps the invoices, the payments and the cash box, and reads the financial reports.
• Administrator: runs the business: clients, orders, money, staff and settings.

Each role can be adjusted permission by permission if your lab works differently. Everyone signs in with their own account, so nobody shares a password, and each person can work in their own language.

Whether you choose OPALEVI or another program, put these questions to every option you consider, and answer them with your own orders rather than a demo.

The full price, with a calculator for your team, is on the pricing page. For a wider checklist that also covers clinics, read how to choose clinic software.

Setting a lab up in OPALEVI takes an afternoon, not a project. After you register as a dental laboratory, a short checklist on the Today screen walks you through the first steps and ticks them off as you go:

1. 1

   Add the dentists who order

   Add each clinic or dentist as a client. A name is enough to begin; contact details can follow.

2. 2

   Set your price list

   OPALEVI starts you with a short sample list (porcelain crown, full denture, denture repair). Replace it with your own work and prices under Settings → Services before the first order is billed.

3. 3

   Take your first order

   Enter a real case. Its stages appear on the Lab workflow board as soon as you add them.

4. 4

   Invite your team

   Add your technicians and reception, each with their role, so the board fills with real names.