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| 903.894.3863 800.522.1193 |
Centric Dental Laboratory was established in
1979, but its philosophy and vision was formed several
years earlier while David Tietz and T.G. Hornischer were
still in college. While the laboratory was operated as a
single person Crown and Bridge laboratory initially, word of
mouth soon made it prosper and by 1981 Centric was a
Full Service dental laboratory with four full time employees.
By 1997, Centric had out grown its original 1200 sq. foot
building, it was now too small for its 18 employees. And, all
of this growth had been accomplished by word of mouth,
we had yet to employ a sales represenetive. Centric moved
from its original location to a custom designed and newly
furnished 5500 sq. foot facility, and quickly hosted 25 full
time employees.
1979, but its philosophy and vision was formed several
years earlier while David Tietz and T.G. Hornischer were
still in college. While the laboratory was operated as a
single person Crown and Bridge laboratory initially, word of
mouth soon made it prosper and by 1981 Centric was a
Full Service dental laboratory with four full time employees.
By 1997, Centric had out grown its original 1200 sq. foot
building, it was now too small for its 18 employees. And, all
of this growth had been accomplished by word of mouth,
we had yet to employ a sales represenetive. Centric moved
from its original location to a custom designed and newly
furnished 5500 sq. foot facility, and quickly hosted 25 full
time employees.
| In the News! |
22-Year Dental Business Keeping Up With Technology To Stay
Successful
By GREG JUNEK
Staff Writer
BULLARD -- Centric Dental Labs, hidden off Farm-to-Market Road 2493 in Bullard,
might not catch the eyes of passersby, but the lab has been building custom
dentures for people in East Texas and beyond for more than 25 years. Some
dental patients opt for non-custom built dentures, but many do choose to have their
new teeth made to the exact specifications of their mouths. Their dentists send the
lab information about the work to be done, and Centric gets down to the business -
some of it quite tedious - of building full or partial dentures or implants.
"We work for some pretty good dentists, so quality is a main issue," said David
Tietz, lab owner.
Tietz jokes that he wanted to be an art major in college, but his father steered him
away from that field. He did find satisfaction, however, in the art of designing new
teeth.
"We concentrate on different sides," said T.G. Hornischer, the general manager
who founded the lab with Tietz. "When we met in college, his passion was to make
the crowns, like the ceramic crowns. My passion is more the partials and full
dentures. So it was a beautiful marriage, actually."
Tietz and Hornischer started Centric Dental Labs 28 years ago on Shelly Drive in
Tyler, next door to Dr. Sidney Tietz's office. Sidney Tietz, who retired from dentistry
earlier this year, is David Tietz's brother and a partner in the Bullard lab.
After 18 years of growing, Tietz and Hornischer realized the lab needed more
space, so they designed the new 5,500-square-foot lab on a 25-acre tract in
Bullard. Starting out, Tietz and Hornischer ran the lab by themselves. It now
employs about 24 people.
FINE-TUNING
To get started working on an order, the lab needs a three-dimensional view of the
patient's mouth, Tietz said, so the dentist will make an impression. Centric will use
that impression to custom design its product to perfectly fit the patient's mouth.
The procedure is not as simple as merely using the impression to provide all the
detail of what a patient needs. Several steps are performed, along with a great deal
of fine-tuning to ensure the dentures fit perfectly.
"We have to work within microns of tolerance," Tietz said. "If everybody's doing their
job right, it will work fine."
"The dentist's impression is the foundation for fit," he said, along with
measurements on the size of the teeth the patient needs.
The job requires working closely with dentists across the region and some outside
of East Texas, as the lab ships its products in a 100-mile radius and, in some
cases, to other states. Tietz explained how, a couple of months ago, a local dentist
took some preliminary impressions and asked the lab to build a temporary wax-up
to determine what could be designed and built to satisfy the patient.
The doctor took an impression of Tietz's wax-up and made a "temporary," which he
put in the patient's mouth to determine where adjustments needed to be made.
"When I'm doing that wax-up, I don't know exactly the length of teeth that are going
to look good with that patient because I don't have lips or cheeks or everything
else," Tietz said. "I'm making an educated guess."
Dentists' measurements are listed for a three-dimensional image.
"I need a three-dimensional model, and then I can duplicate that spot," Tietz said.
Hornischer added that sometimes the lab receives an e-mailed photograph.
"If we have somebody who can e-mail a photo in addition to sending this
information so we can see more of the shape or whatever, all of the information we
can get is good," Hornischer said.
Fit is one element of the patient receiving a good set of dentures; appearance is
another. The lab has a color palette that allows it to customize dentures to match
the color and characteristics of a patient's existing teeth.
"Everything's so custom. It's amazing," Hornischer said.
Tietz pointed out a difference in a patient's dentures, comparing their appearance
to the patient's teeth on a photograph.
"This particular one, you can see some (crack) lines," he said. "We will have to put
those in. They're in that patient's tooth like that, so if we just build ours like that
(without the lines) and put one up here, it's not going to look right."
Hornischer said the lab started making dental implants in 1986, becoming
forerunners in that area, and now a great deal of its work is dental implants.
Just as each impression is disinfected before the lab handles it, the finished
products are cleaned and disinfected prior to being shipped back to dentists'
offices.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Centric Dental Labs has earned certification from the National Association of Dental
Labs. Hornischer and Tietz recently received recognition from the association for
being certified dental technicians for 25 years.
Centric also took the Lab of the Year honor from the association.
Of the approximately 13,000 registered dental laboratories in the United States,
Centric occupies the top 10 percent in size. Tietz and Hornischer said, however, the
difference in size in that top 10 percent is vast, ranging from about 20 employees to
about 4,000 employees. Many labs are operated by only about seven people, Tietz
said. Some are only one- or two-person operations.
The lab also prides itself on providing continuing education to dentists.
"I speak, T.G. speaks, David speaks, and we believe in education," Dr. Sidney Tietz
said. "At the same time we received the award for laboratory of the year, T.G. got
the award for educator of the year. ... Both of these guys are well-known around
not only the country, but around the world in some things."
Tietz said employees do not need prior experience; the lab offers training. For the
past 25 years, it has used Productivity Training Corp. of California to teach new
employees the trades employed in the processes of making dentures. The lab also
uses the course as a refresher for its employees to ensure the correct techniques
continue to be used.
"They're probably one of the key reasons that allowed us to grow big, because we
have a way to train somebody and we have a way to monitor our stats of laboratory
technique and it standardizes the quality of our product," Tietz said.
Successful
By GREG JUNEK
Staff Writer
BULLARD -- Centric Dental Labs, hidden off Farm-to-Market Road 2493 in Bullard,
might not catch the eyes of passersby, but the lab has been building custom
dentures for people in East Texas and beyond for more than 25 years. Some
dental patients opt for non-custom built dentures, but many do choose to have their
new teeth made to the exact specifications of their mouths. Their dentists send the
lab information about the work to be done, and Centric gets down to the business -
some of it quite tedious - of building full or partial dentures or implants.
"We work for some pretty good dentists, so quality is a main issue," said David
Tietz, lab owner.
Tietz jokes that he wanted to be an art major in college, but his father steered him
away from that field. He did find satisfaction, however, in the art of designing new
teeth.
"We concentrate on different sides," said T.G. Hornischer, the general manager
who founded the lab with Tietz. "When we met in college, his passion was to make
the crowns, like the ceramic crowns. My passion is more the partials and full
dentures. So it was a beautiful marriage, actually."
Tietz and Hornischer started Centric Dental Labs 28 years ago on Shelly Drive in
Tyler, next door to Dr. Sidney Tietz's office. Sidney Tietz, who retired from dentistry
earlier this year, is David Tietz's brother and a partner in the Bullard lab.
After 18 years of growing, Tietz and Hornischer realized the lab needed more
space, so they designed the new 5,500-square-foot lab on a 25-acre tract in
Bullard. Starting out, Tietz and Hornischer ran the lab by themselves. It now
employs about 24 people.
FINE-TUNING
To get started working on an order, the lab needs a three-dimensional view of the
patient's mouth, Tietz said, so the dentist will make an impression. Centric will use
that impression to custom design its product to perfectly fit the patient's mouth.
The procedure is not as simple as merely using the impression to provide all the
detail of what a patient needs. Several steps are performed, along with a great deal
of fine-tuning to ensure the dentures fit perfectly.
"We have to work within microns of tolerance," Tietz said. "If everybody's doing their
job right, it will work fine."
"The dentist's impression is the foundation for fit," he said, along with
measurements on the size of the teeth the patient needs.
The job requires working closely with dentists across the region and some outside
of East Texas, as the lab ships its products in a 100-mile radius and, in some
cases, to other states. Tietz explained how, a couple of months ago, a local dentist
took some preliminary impressions and asked the lab to build a temporary wax-up
to determine what could be designed and built to satisfy the patient.
The doctor took an impression of Tietz's wax-up and made a "temporary," which he
put in the patient's mouth to determine where adjustments needed to be made.
"When I'm doing that wax-up, I don't know exactly the length of teeth that are going
to look good with that patient because I don't have lips or cheeks or everything
else," Tietz said. "I'm making an educated guess."
Dentists' measurements are listed for a three-dimensional image.
"I need a three-dimensional model, and then I can duplicate that spot," Tietz said.
Hornischer added that sometimes the lab receives an e-mailed photograph.
"If we have somebody who can e-mail a photo in addition to sending this
information so we can see more of the shape or whatever, all of the information we
can get is good," Hornischer said.
Fit is one element of the patient receiving a good set of dentures; appearance is
another. The lab has a color palette that allows it to customize dentures to match
the color and characteristics of a patient's existing teeth.
"Everything's so custom. It's amazing," Hornischer said.
Tietz pointed out a difference in a patient's dentures, comparing their appearance
to the patient's teeth on a photograph.
"This particular one, you can see some (crack) lines," he said. "We will have to put
those in. They're in that patient's tooth like that, so if we just build ours like that
(without the lines) and put one up here, it's not going to look right."
Hornischer said the lab started making dental implants in 1986, becoming
forerunners in that area, and now a great deal of its work is dental implants.
Just as each impression is disinfected before the lab handles it, the finished
products are cleaned and disinfected prior to being shipped back to dentists'
offices.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Centric Dental Labs has earned certification from the National Association of Dental
Labs. Hornischer and Tietz recently received recognition from the association for
being certified dental technicians for 25 years.
Centric also took the Lab of the Year honor from the association.
Of the approximately 13,000 registered dental laboratories in the United States,
Centric occupies the top 10 percent in size. Tietz and Hornischer said, however, the
difference in size in that top 10 percent is vast, ranging from about 20 employees to
about 4,000 employees. Many labs are operated by only about seven people, Tietz
said. Some are only one- or two-person operations.
The lab also prides itself on providing continuing education to dentists.
"I speak, T.G. speaks, David speaks, and we believe in education," Dr. Sidney Tietz
said. "At the same time we received the award for laboratory of the year, T.G. got
the award for educator of the year. ... Both of these guys are well-known around
not only the country, but around the world in some things."
Tietz said employees do not need prior experience; the lab offers training. For the
past 25 years, it has used Productivity Training Corp. of California to teach new
employees the trades employed in the processes of making dentures. The lab also
uses the course as a refresher for its employees to ensure the correct techniques
continue to be used.
"They're probably one of the key reasons that allowed us to grow big, because we
have a way to train somebody and we have a way to monitor our stats of laboratory
technique and it standardizes the quality of our product," Tietz said.