Should I send my provisional to the lab?

For prosthodontists and general dentists managing high-esthetic anterior cases, the provisional is the most accurate record of what the patient and clinician approved together. Tooth length, incisal edge position, lip support, and contact points are all embedded in that acrylic. Sending it physically, alongside your intraoral scan, gives the ceramist a three-dimensional template rather than a flat spec sheet. Most remake requests on anterior cases trace back to information that was present in the provisional and never made it to the lab.

Full-arch implant cases have an even stronger argument for it. On All-on-X workflows especially, the provisional often holds months of functional and phonetic refinement. Sending it with the case file allows the lab to measure vertical dimension directly, confirm the midline, and match the incisal display the patient already likes. Relying on photos and written notes alone introduces interpretation gaps that compound across a 14-unit or full-arch span.

If the provisional was fabricated digitally and you have the STL on file, send that file too. A physical provisional plus the STL together give the technician the most complete picture. At Dani Dental, every case arrives with a dedicated technician review before fabrication begins, so any discrepancy between the provisional, the scan, and the prescription gets flagged before the first block is milled, not after the restoration is already seated.