glidewell.io™ User Stories: Dr. T. Scott Barton

Scott Barton, DDS is a practicing dentist at Whispering Oaks Family Dental in San Antonio, Texas. As a glidewell.io™ user since 2018, he was one of the earliest adopters of our same-day dentistry solutions. Now, nearly six years later, he has the unique perspective of having used this technology since its inception. “Even though I wasn’t the first to go digital among my colleagues, I definitely exemplify how easy it can be,” he says. “I show other dentists how this system provides a clinical boost and won’t end up collecting dust in the corner.”

CAD/CAM dentistry enables clinicians like Dr. Barton to fabricate highly accurate restorations in-office, in just one appointment.

But Dr. Barton’s digital journey didn’t start with glidewell.io — his first foray into a digital workflow was with a CEREC® system. “There’s a lot of technique sensitivity with CEREC®,” he admits. “It requires you to put a lot more work into prep technique to figure out what you can and can’t do.” Although he was unsatisfied with the experience, it proved to be eye-opening in demonstrating what one could achieve with technology in the practice. “Then one day I happened to open an email from glidewell.io talking about the fastmill.io™ In-Office Mill. I thought to myself, ‘I can mill fully sintered BruxZir® crowns with the iTero scanner I already own? That sounds amazing.’”

The glidewell.io In-Office Solution is designed as a hassle-free, easy way for doctors to benefit from same-day dentistry. Barton notes that the “learning curve is very short, and very easy” and includes the addition of personalized support. “It’s a simpler workflow and you don’t have to be that tech-savvy to jump into it,” he adds. “For those who might not be there yet, trust me when I say it’s not a hard change. I’m by no means an IT expert, and it was easy enough for me to get on board.”

Scan, design, mill: Every step of the glidewell.io workflow is easy to learn, easy to use and fully backed by our customer support team.

Part of what makes glidewell.io so easy to use is how it harnesses artificial intelligence. Rather than spending valuable time creating restoration designs from scratch, doctors can use CrownAI™ to generate a design in just a few clicks. This proprietary software analyzes the tooth anatomy and morphology of the patient’s surrounding dentition while comparing millions of individual crowns in a database to automatically generate a crown proposal that meets the specific demands of the case at hand.

This user-friendly, time-saving interface is what makes glidewell.io a great return on investment for Dr. Barton. Because of his ability to offer crowns in a single appointment with no temporaries needed, his client base has grown significantly through word-of-mouth referrals. The result? “Once patients have had that service with a digital workflow, they don’t want to go back to the old ways,” he notes. Delivering crowns in a single appointment frees up so much time, which in turn, saves money and gives his practice a competitive edge.

User-friendly software makes glidewell.io easy to use for team members.

Although any practice will benefit from the digital workflow of glidewell.io, DSO members such as Dr. Barton enjoy the added benefit of preferred pricing on Glidewell products. Doctors can also save $20 or more per unit on model-free cases submitted digitally to Glidewell and get a 3-day turnaround. “In the first year alone of switching to glidewell.io™, I saved my office $80,000,” Barton says. “Even now I’m still saving $45,000-$55,000 a year over my DSO colleagues who don’t use glidewell.io.”

The glidewell.io™ In-Office Solution workflow pairs with your existing scanner.

Barton’s advice to fellow clinicians considering chairside CAD/CAM dentistry? “Go online and see how it works. Ask a colleague who uses glidewell.io, ask questions, and research it to see how it fits into your workflow. Having been practicing for over 30 years now, I couldn’t imagine not doing this. It’s a pleasure to work on these cases, to learn these techniques and new procedures. Anybody who thinks it might be expensive or hard to use, I would urge you to consider the return on investment. It’s really that simple.”

With glidewell.io in his practice, Dr. Barton boosted production and revenue so much that he added a second mill.