Meet Dental Concepts Dental Lab, San Francisco: 20 Years of Crown Craft

We Started as the Lab Behind Other Labs 

Before Dental Concepts made crowns for dentists, our founders made zirconia for other dental labs. In 2006, Barry Johal and Silke Finis opened Prestige Milling Inc., one of the first Lava milling centres on the West Coast. 

That title carried weight. At the time, 3M ESPE supplied Lava crowns and bridges to dentists and labs through Authorized Lava Milling Centers across the United States (DentistryIQ, March 2006). Those centres milled the zirconia coping, the strong inner core of the crown. The dentist's own lab then layered the porcelain on top.

3M even backed those copings with a five-year breakage warranty, provided an authorized centre made them on Lava equipment and followed the approved instructions. 

Think of Swiss watchmaking. Some workshops build the movement, the engine inside, and other brands put their name on the dial. Prestige Milling built the engine. Every coping that left the building had to fit someone else's porcelain, someone else's model and, finally, a patient we'd never meet. 

From milling centre to full-service crown lab 

1. 2006: Prestige Milling Inc. opens and mills zirconia crowns for dental labs. 

2. The shift: Digital design speeds up, and dentists ask for more aesthetic restorations. 

3. Dental Concepts is born: The same partners bring design, milling, layering and finishing under one roof. 

4. Today: Crowns, veneers, implant restorations and All-on-X cases leave one San Francisco bench. 

Why does this history matter to you? A milling centre lives or dies on fit. Years of making copings for picky lab owners build a habit: check the margin, check the connector, check it again. We still work that way. 

What Our Dental Crown Lab Makes, and Which Crown Fits Which Tooth 

A dental crown lab turns your prescription and scan or impression into a finished crown that fits the prep, matches the shade and survives years of chewing. The work covers design, milling or pressing, layering, staining, glazing and a final fit check. 

At Dental Concepts, every crown starts with one question: which material suits this tooth? Here's how we think about our four core options. 

What the research says about crown survival 

Material choice matters most when you match it to the tooth. A 2015 systematic review in Dental Materials pooled 67 studies covering 4,663 metal-ceramic and 9,434 all-ceramic single crowns (Sailer et al., 2015).

Here's what stood out: 

• Lithium disilicate and leucite glass-ceramic crowns reached 96.6% survival at five years. 

• Metal-ceramic crowns came in at 94.7%, a statistically similar result. 

• Feldspathic ceramic and zirconia crowns in that dataset survived less often on back teeth than on front teeth. 

That last point is the useful one. The same material can thrive on a lateral incisor and struggle on a first molar. So we talk material before we mill, and we'll tell you when a prescription and a tooth don't agree. 

The extras that make a crown seat faster 

• Digital wax-ups so you and your patient can preview the result. 

• 3D model printing for checking contacts and occlusion. 

• Custom shades for anterior cases where a shade tab alone won't cut it. 

See the full list on our Products & Services page. 

Why Choosing a Dental Lab in the USA Still Matters 

A dental lab in the USA gives you shorter lines of communication, clearer answers about materials and a bench you can actually visit. Those perks sound small until a remake lands in week three. 

A fair share of American dental work never touches an American bench. In 2015, NADL reported that about 38% of restorations and roughly 25% of domestic lab sales were manufactured overseas, by foreign labs from 42 countries registered with the FDA. The association also noted rising imports from China, India and Vietnam.

Plenty of overseas technicians do fine work. Still, distance makes two jobs harder: tracing what went into a crown and fixing a problem fast. NADL's advice to dentists has stayed refreshingly simple. Ask where each restoration is made and what's inside it. 

Five questions to ask any crown lab 

How Dental Concepts answers them 

• Made in San Francisco: our team designs and mills restorations at 244 9th Street. 

• A real person on the phone: call 1-800-700-LABS and talk to the people building your case. 

• Shade, in person: patients can visit for a custom shade appointment that takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Book it on 415-558-9717. 

• Your time zone: we're open Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Pacific, the same hours as most West Coast practices. 

Who Builds Your Crowns: German Bench Training Meets Digital Milling 

Our team is led by Silke Finis, a German-certified dental technician, and entrepreneur Barry Johal, the same two partners who started milling zirconia in 2006. One brings the craft. The other keeps the lab running like a well-oiled handpiece. 

Why German training shows up in the work 

In Germany, the standard route to becoming a dental technician is a 3.5-year dual apprenticeship. Trainees spend about 75% of that time working in a lab and 25% in vocational school, then sit a journeyman's exam. A master craftsman qualification sits above that (BIBB). 

That's a long apprenticeship by any yardstick. It produces technicians who layer porcelain by hand, read a model at a glance and spot a doubtful margin before it turns into a remake. It's the tradition Silke brings to every anterior case. 

The digital side of the bench 

• 3Shape scanners for accurate digital design. 

• Roland milling machines for zirconia and other milled restorations. 

• Digital wax-ups and 3D printed models for previews and fit checks. 

The machines give us repeatability. The hands give us the finishing touches a patient actually notices in the mirror. You need both, and we refuse to pick one. 

The team also keeps learning. Materials change fast, and continuous training is part of how we work, so your prescription always meets a technician who knows the latest options. 

Ready to Send Your First Crown Case? 

Dental Concepts brings two decades of zirconia know-how, German bench training and a local San Francisco team to every crown you prescribe. We began as the lab behind other labs. Today, we'd like to be the lab behind your practice. 

Getting started takes about five minutes: 

1. Download our Rx form from the Rx & Price List page. 

2. Introduce your practice by emailing accounts@dentalconceptssf.com. 

3. Send shade photos for aesthetic cases to photos@dentalconceptssf.com. 

4. Call us on 1-800-700-LABS (5227) with any question about materials or design. 

Restoring implants? Read our next post, The Lab Side of Dental Implants in San Francisco, for a step-by-step look at how we handle implant crowns, custom abutments and All-on-X cases

. Or drop us a line through our contact page. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

What does a dental crown lab do? 

A dental crown lab turns a dentist's prescription and scan or impression into a finished crown. Technicians design it, mill or press it, layer and stain it for colour, glaze it and check the fit before it ships back to the practice. 

Is zirconia or Emax better for a crown? 

It depends on the tooth. Full contour zirconia suits molars and heavy biters because it's milled from one solid block. Emax (lithium disilicate) suits front teeth and premolars where translucency matters. A 2015 review found 96.6% five-year survival for lithium disilicate crowns. 

How do I know if my crowns are made in the USA? 

Ask your lab for the point of origin and the materials used in every restoration. NADL urges dentists to ask both questions, and its certified lab programme requires point of origin disclosure. A good lab answers without hesitation. 

What was a Lava milling centre? 

It was a lab authorized by 3M ESPE to mill Lava zirconia copings on Lava equipment. The dentist's own lab then layered porcelain over the coping. Dental Concepts' founders ran one of the first on the West Coast, starting in 2006. 

How do I start working with Dental Concepts Dental Lab, San Francisco? 

Email accounts@dentalconceptssf.com to set up your practice, download the Rx form from our website and call 1-800-700-LABS with any questions. We're at 244 9th Street, San Francisco, open Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.