In-house digital dentistry is giving dental practices and laboratories more flexibility to decide which parts of design and manufacturing they want to control themselves and which parts make more sense to outsource. Alex Jakson joins Rob Norton to share how Evolve Dentistry grew from an exocad reseller and training platform into a digital dentistry partner offering design services, manufacturing, technology, education, and hybrid workflows built around the needs of each individual practice or laboratory. Alex explores exocad, dental 3D printing, milling, full arch design, same day dentistry, SprintRay Midas, AI assisted design, material selection, chairside manufacturing, and the four digital workflow models that allow clinicians and technicians to gradually bring more production in house without having to change everything at once. The conversation also examines Evolve’s approach to hands on education, training dental assistants and technicians, working through real patient cases, evaluating the return on bringing different procedures in house, and why access to experienced designers and laboratory technicians can help teams build confidence as they adopt new technology. Looking toward the future of digital dentistry, Alex explains how advances in AI, materials, design software, and accessible manufacturing technology are creating new opportunities for practices and laboratories to build workflows around their own goals while developing the skills needed to become increasingly independent.

Chapters

• (00:00:43) - Meet Alex Jakson & the Story of Evolve
• (00:04:28) - Why Evolve Only Sells Technology It Uses
• (00:09:20) - Building a Hybrid Digital Dentistry Workflow
• (00:11:50) - How Same-Day Full Arch Dentistry Works
• (00:17:49) - Evolve Design Services & Digital Workflow Tools
• (00:20:59) - The Four Pillars of Digital Dentistry
• (00:22:33) - Bringing Dental Manufacturing In-House
• (00:27:30) - SprintRay Midas, Chairside Crowns & AI Design
• (00:32:34) - exocad Training & the Future of Dental Education