With its consulting program, the SSOP (Swiss School of Prosthetics) offers individual knowledge transfer and best practice advice for the prosthetics department on site.
Dental laboratories face many challenges in terms of their employee base. Not only because more and more of those with expertise are retiring, but also because the shortage of skilled workers means that lateral entrants and those returning to work have to be trained. As a result, the experience in employee teams is becoming increasingly inhomogeneous. At the same time, cost and deadline pressures demand greater productivity. SSOP offers active support here with its consulting services and analysis of the prosthetics department. One approach to problem solving in the laboratories is to bring the anatomical and prosthetic knowledge of everyone in the team to a uniform, high level. In this way, technical expertise and processes can be optimized in terms of efficiency. These are important prerequisites for positioning yourself as a strong partner in the dental market and professionally occupying an attractive niche with prosthetics.
Success through sustainable prosthetic knowledge
Total prosthetics in particular defines its quality through complex, individual adaptation to the patient's circumstances. This requires the entire prosthetics team to have in-depth knowledge in order to meet the growing demands and wishes of patients. Things get even more drive when there is a team behind it that understands each other, has a high, sustainable level of knowledge of all employees and ensures a high level of effectiveness through coordinated processes.
Training program and best practice consulting in one
To achieve these goals, SSOP offers a special consulting service. This includes not only a training program individually tailored to the team and the prosthetics department, but also a "best practice recommendation" on how to increase productivity, efficiency and quality through appropriate knowledge.
"Our approach here is 'efficiency through knowledge'," says Oliver Benz, Head of Education at Candulor, summarizing the concept: "This prosthetics knowledge leads to the team gaining confidence and acquiring routines, which automatically reduces the time factor and increases efficiency. At the same time, this knowledge brings more quality to the laboratory with appropriate QM follow-up. This means, among other things, that sources of error, unnecessary repetitions and rework are avoided. Another factor for greater efficiency. With this consultation, there is therefore the opportunity to bring an undercovered dental sub-area into profitability in the first step, and to significantly increase quality in the second step, which makes it possible to adjust the price situation."
SSOP Consulting consists of 3 stages
Stage 1: Coordination of the target definition
- To this end, possible problem areas are analyzed and target formulations for optimization are defined.
Stage 2: Analysis and concept by SSOP
- Analysis of work processes in the laboratory or department
- Strengths and weaknesses analysis of employees
- Evaluation of the information
Stage 3: Creation of solutions and a training concept
- Best practice suggestions for increasing efficiency and productivity
- Recommendations for suitable training programs to raise the prosthetic knowledge in the team to a homogeneous level and combination with one of the Bronze, Silver or Gold service packages
Consulting becomes employee retention and quality management
"During our consultations, we notice time and again," says Oliver Benz, Head of Education at Candulor, "that the complexity of complete denture prosthetics is forgotten by those involved and that this often has an impact on other departments in the laboratory. If I have an understanding in this discipline of the relationships between support, chewing stability and functionality, the temporomandibular joint, phonetics and esthetics, then this knowledge will also lead me to higher quality in ceramics or in bridge and partial denture prosthetics. This is where the SSOP comes into play: with fundamental, comprehensive knowledge transfer on the subject of "removable prosthetics".
The consulting service provides the laboratory with clear alternatives for improving processes and supporting employees and teams. Gaps in knowledge can be closed with an individual training plan. Three different service packages can be booked for follow-up, depending on the consulting requirements and intensity: Bronze, Silver or Gold.
The newly acquired specialist knowledge in the right places makes it possible to find a sound solution for individual prosthetic cases in the laboratory. It doesn't matter whether work is still predominantly analog or already digital. By understanding the relationships in the three-dimensional, analog world, employees inevitably also become more confident in the digital world.
Also get the dentist on board
In most cases, the definition of routines and processes also results in the first points of contact with professional quality management, which makes a dental laboratory very attractive for dentists. Another key to success is that the customer relationship with the treating dentists is also strengthened within the consulting process and they are integrated into the training concept. Oliver Benz comments: "The better the preliminary work is in terms of impression taking and bite registration, and the better the understanding of the requirements for optimum prosthetics, the better the result will be. We are very pleased that dentists are also recognizing the need for further training in this field, as they have usually only had a peripheral view of complete denture prosthetics in their training. This is why we also involve the dentist in this process through special training courses and workshops for dentists."
Finally, a special factor results from the special appreciation and opportunity for personal development that arises from the SSOP training concept for employees and usually results in stronger loyalty to the laboratory. In times of skills shortages, this is a factor that should not be underestimated.
QM-certified training program in accordance with ISO 21001:2018
It is good to know that the high quality standards have recently been confirmed by an independent body: SSOP was QM-certified by the renowned Swiss SQS Institute in accordance with the ISO 21001:2018 standard, which is specifically geared towards educational institutions. One of the pillars within the demanding audit is the focus on the learner. This requires mechanisms within the learning program that include support tailored to the participant, individual coaching and coordinated learning plans. The aim is to ensure that the participants' goals are achieved.
The individual consulting program in particular reflects this requirement par excellence and thus creates best practice support and very individual knowledge transfer on site, where it has an immediate effect: in the laboratory, i.e. in the direct everyday life of the employees!
Press contact: Sara Marconcini - Marketing Manager
