Istar Dental Lab is a factory-based digital dental lab in Shenzhen and Huizhou, China, running the full chain from CAD design to final QC in-house since 2012. Clinicians work with us for one of a few reasons: the restoration arrives on the day it was promised, the margin and shade match the prescription, and the case does not get sub-contracted to a third party on the way through.
Monolithic and layered zirconia single crowns and multi-unit bridges in solid, high-translucency, and multi-layer discs. PFM on noble, semi-precious, or chrome-cobalt alloys. Pressed and milled lithium disilicate (IPS e.max class) covers anterior and premolar crowns where translucency matters.
Feldspathic porcelain veneers layered by hand on refractory dies for cases that need the natural translucency of a stacked ceramic, plus milled lithium disilicate veneers at a lower unit cost when a monolithic shell is appropriate. Minimal-prep and no-prep designs are both supported. For high-aesthetic anterior work, intraoral photographs and a shade map carry more weight than scan geometry alone — stump-shade photos matter when the prep is dark.
Milled lithium disilicate and zirconia inlays, onlays, and overlays, including bonded onlays for cracked-tooth and endodontically-treated cases. They run on the same milling and glazing lines as our single crowns, so margin fit and shade control follow the same QC path. Isthmus width, cuspal coverage, and proximal box dimensions should be noted on the prescription when they influence the final design.
Custom titanium abutments, zirconia abutments on titanium bases, screw-retained crowns and bridges, hybrid prostheses, All-on-X full-arch bars and bridges, and surgical guides. The implant department (around 80 technicians) keeps compatibility libraries for major platforms — send the system name and scan body model and we will match it.
Milled and 3D-printed complete dentures, partial dentures with cast metal frameworks, flexible and acetal partials, and implant-retained overdenture bars. Try-in stages and reline work stay with the same 55-technician removable team that made the original restoration.
Hard-acrylic occlusal guards, dual-laminate soft/hard appliances, anterior deprogrammers, and TMJ splints — short lead times, since they skip the ceramic and sintering lines.
1 · Case intake (day 0). Email the files or ship the impression. Your Case Coordinator confirms receipt, logs a unique case ID, and flags any missing records before scheduling.
2 · Data check. Scans are verified for coverage of the preparation, 2–3 adjacent teeth, the opposing arch, and the bite. Anything missing or contradictory pauses the case until you reply.
3 · CAD design. Our 100-technician design department produces one design per prescription, with up to two free revisions. For lab-to-lab cases that arrive with a finished design, we move straight to CAM.
4 · Design approval. For aesthetic and complex implant cases, a screenshot or STL preview is sent to your working group or email. Written confirmation is required for anything that changes material, shade, or occlusal scheme.
5 · Manufacturing. CAM milling, sintering, porcelain layering and glazing, or 3D printing — all done in-house.
6 · Three-stage QC. Intake check, in-process spot checks, and a final inspection by a QC team of about 25 technicians who do not fabricate restorations. Fixed work is checked on the master die for margin, contacts, fit, occlusion, finish, and shade; removables for framework seating, border extension, retention, bite registration, and tooth position.
7 · Packaging and shipment. The case ID is visible on the outer packaging; implant components and bite records are labeled separately. Packages ship via DHL, FedEx, UPS, or SPIDER (for France), with the tracking number sent the same day.
Routine cases — single crowns, standard bridges, straightforward design jobs — run 2 to 3 business days in the lab.
Complex cases — multi-unit implant work, All-on-X, full-arch aesthetic, long-span removables — run 5 to 7 business days.
The clock starts the day we receive the complete case, counts business days only (Monday to Friday, China time), and pauses while we wait for your reply on a missing record or a design question.
International carrier transit and customs sit outside the lab clock and are tracked separately on the shipment side.
Small rush requests (fewer than about 10 extra units a month) are normally absorbed into the regular schedule at no additional charge. Larger rush demands are quoted — specific lead time and any cost — before work begins. Default shipments are uninsured; paid shipping insurance is available, capped at the production fee or declared value.
The full B2B fee schedule is sent on request through your Sales Manager, since unit prices shift with material brand and configuration. Each quoted unit price covers CAD design, a 3D-printed working model, standard articulation parts, a QC inspection record, standard packaging, and return shipping under the shipment clause — a single invoice line is a complete delivered unit. New procedures or added parts that come up mid-case are quoted in writing before we proceed.
Bank transfer and PayPal are both supported; the paying party covers transaction fees at the day's exchange rate. Established accounts qualify for 30-day terms after a short on-boarding period. Invoicing is per batch by default (monthly statements available), and each invoice can display your clinic case ID, patient ID, or purchase order number.
Individual dentists have no monthly minimum provided shipping works out. B2B lab accounts need to average above US$500 of lab fee per month to be sustainable; under that, international freight overwhelms the economics for both sides.
Cases can be sent using a clinic-internal case ID instead of a full patient name. Files move through encrypted channels (3Shape Communicate, Medit Link, password-protected archives, or our transfer portal), are encrypted at rest, and are accessible only to Case Coordination under a signed confidentiality agreement. Standard retention is three months after shipment, adjustable per account.
The ADA's FAQ on HIPAA business associates states that when a covered dental practice shares PHI with a provider for treatment purposes, a Business Associate Agreement is not strictly required by HIPAA. Once a vendor stores, transmits, or processes PHI beyond treatment, you are in BAA territory — HHS covers general obligations and cross-border questions. We sign a BAA when your compliance team asks for one; otherwise we work with case IDs instead.
For outsourcing dental labs, white-label service is the default: your clinic clients see your prescription form, your packaging, and your name on invoices and labels. Direct contact with your dentist clients is off limits. Case data stays bound to your account and is not used to train software or populate any case library.
Accepted formats include STL, PLY, OBJ, DCM (3Shape native scans), native CAD design files from exocad and 3Shape, and intraoral scan uploads from 3Shape Communicate and Medit Link.
STL geometry does not transport everything the clinic sees in the scanner. According to 3Shape's documentation on STL and DCM exports, STL files do not include shade measurement, color photographs, margin lines, or annotations — those live in the DCM native file. For a high-aesthetic case, send the DCM alongside the STL, plus clinical photos and a shade map.
A case is considered complete with the working-arch scan or impression, the opposing arch, a bite registration, the prescription with intended material and shade, and (for aesthetic cases) adequate photos. Implant cases also need the implant system and scan-body model; pontic designs need stump-shade photos.
If a restoration arrives with a fault we caused — open margin, non-seating fit, shade mismatch that cannot be adjusted chairside, poorly positioned clasps, inaccurate bite registration — it is remade at no charge, and we cover return freight once the package value crosses a set threshold. Notify us within 24 hours of receipt with the case number, patient reference, and photos, and the remake jumps ahead of the standard queue.
Clinician-driven changes after design approval, cases we proceeded on only after a documented warning about inadequate records, and lab-to-lab handoffs on client-supplied designs follow different terms. The full matrix — what is covered, what is quoted as new work, how responsibility is split on lab-to-lab designs, and the escalation path when a second attempt still misses — lives on our Rework & Warranty Policy page.
Visits are welcome at both the Shenzhen and Huizhou facilities — a production floor tour showing design, milling, ceramic, and QC in sequence, a live video inspection when travel is not practical, or a supplier onboarding questionnaire and annual audit. We respond to procurement questionnaires in English and share quality system documents, FDA/MDR/MHRA references, ISO 13485 certification, and material compliance including CE and ISO 10993.
Capacity behind those floors: about 8,000 zirconia single crowns and 2,000 bridge cases in a normal month, rising to roughly 15,000 and 3,000 in peak season, alongside 20 All-on-X arches, 4,000 removable denture cases, and around 50 trained backup technicians for surges. Peak volume does not compress the existing queue.
For context on US regulatory expectations for custom dental devices, 21 CFR Part 820 — Quality System Regulation (now titled the Quality Management System Regulation, or QMSR) incorporates ISO 13485:2016 as of 2 February 2026.
Yes. Scan or ship the existing denture with intraoral scans or impressions of the current ridges and note the specific changes you want. The old denture is treated as a reference, not a template — a direct copy inherits the flaws of the original.
Multi-layer discs are stocked across our zirconia lines, and are a sensible pick for anterior single crowns and short-span bridges where chromatic transition matters. For posterior restorations with heavy occlusal loads, monolithic high-strength zirconia is usually the safer call.
Send the implant system name, the exact scan-body reference, and (for a surgical guide) the planning file. New platforms are added once the scan body is verified; the first case on an unfamiliar platform may need an extra day in CAD.
Yes to disinfection. For international shipment, VPS (vinyl polysiloxane) or polyether is preferred — alginate loses water in transit, deforms, and risks customs quarantine as organic material. Impressions are logged and disinfected again by material type on arrival.
A target-tooth photo with the shade tab in frame, plus a second photo matching the adjacent tooth. For veneers and layered crowns, add a stump-shade photo of the prepared tooth, a smile photo for lip line and midline, and polarized images if available.
Spring Festival (late January or early February) and National Day (first week of October) have specific submission cutoffs communicated three to four weeks in advance. Other public holidays shift delivery by one business day.
Request a fee schedule and lead-time sheet. Email your typical case mix — unit types, monthly volume, destination country — and we return the current B2B schedule plus a lead-time table within one business day.
Upload a single trial case. Send the scan files or share a 3Shape Communicate or Medit Link invitation. Receipt is confirmed the same business day; the trial runs under the same schedule and QC standards as a production case.
Book a factory visit or video walk-through. A 30-minute live tour of the Shenzhen or Huizhou facility usually settles long-term partner questions faster than any PDF.
Technical questions during China business hours (9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Monday to Friday) receive a reply within one hour; outside those hours the reply arrives within 7 to 8 hours and no later than 12. Urgent cases can be routed directly to your account Manager.
Contact Istar Dental Lab to open an account or send a trial case.
Want to get in touch directly? Reach out to our sales representative via WhatsApp at +8618925410015 for a quick response and a price quote!
