Trident Dental Laboratories Corporate Profile

Expect Quality

Depend On Our Service

Receive Value

Young and extremely ambitious, Laurence Fishman, started Trident Labs from scratch at 24 years of age

Laurence Fishman, founder and owner of Trident Dental Laboratories, recently had an opportunity to share some insights into his company’s phenomenal growth and plans for the future with Carol Murphy, DentalTown Magazine’s Executive Editor. DentalTown: Is it true that you started Trident Labs literally from scratch at the age of 24? Laurence Fishman: My father, David Fishman, is a dentist. When I was 18, he helped me to get a job in a 50-man lab as a driver. I learned the inner workings of a dental lab with an “over the shoulder” technique as I watched the technicians. I found that I really enjoyed the business and soon it became quite apparent to everyone that I had a natural affinity for lab work. Learning the overall business came very easy to me. I soon began to formulate ideas to improve logistics and efficiency. With these ideas and a dedication to work hard, I decided it was time to open my own lab.

Fishman: Well, this may sound simplistic but it has been my experience that true success is usually attributed to a lot of hard work. From the very start of opening the lab, I’ve combined hard work with being persistent, building strategic alliances and doing whatever it takes to get the job done right.

DentalTown: What guiding principles truly define Trident’s operations?

Fishman: I personally want every dentist who uses Trident’s services to expect quality, depend on our service and always receive value. The Trident team and I take this commitment very seriously. We place this pledge of our commitment on all correspondence as a constant reminder of our promise to dentists. To accomplish this goal, we are always scrutinizing and reinventing our business model so we can be extremely responsive to dentists’ needs and consistently deliver high-quality work.

Pictured with President Laurence Fishman are Trident’s executive management team; Bob Vartanian-Vice President Sales & Marketing (left) and Richard McDonald-Chief Financial Officer (right).

DentalTown: Are any of these principles—quality, service and value—of higher importance?

Fishman: I know from over 14 years of experience that quality is the most important aspect in a dentist’s lab selection. Dentists who have used Trident’s lab facilities for their patient’s restorations have come to expect consistent and exceptional aesthetic results.

In this business, it is imperative to start with a quality product because without quality, excellent service and great value are of little or no importance. To meet dentists’ expectations, I have specified an absolute zero defect tolerance level for our fabrication process. We continually strive to meet that standard of excellence.

DentalTown: Well, Trident must be doing something right—your annual growth rate is tracking 35% this year.

Fishman: Yes, we’re very proud of our accomplishments and steady growth. Currently we have processed over 264,000 cases per year. Having a committed team of professionals, diverse and high quality products, proactive customer service teams, quick response time and consistent marketing are all factors of our continued success.

By continuing to do things better, faster and without compromise, I’m certain we’ll continue our growth in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

DentalTown: Are there any attributes you feel distinguish Trident from other labs?

Fishman: Our goal is to meet or exceed expectations. In the process of accomplishing that goal, we try to anticipate needs and position ourselves as a partner in providing solutions. We respond quickly to requests and pay close attention to all the details—including special requests.

Trident Laboratories can offer dentists a very good value because we are continually conducting research, in addition to developing and implementing the latest technology.

The dental industry is changing so rapidly and we respond in kind. By continuously evolving, we are able to be the first, in many instances, to offer the latest in dental technology and assist technically in case planning. From using the highest quality materials and upgrading our communication system, to integration of our sophisticated case tracking system, we continue to be a leader in the industry.

Trident has created Practice Development Kits for patient consultation purposes. The kits are an ongoing effort to assist dentists in communicating with their patients more effectively. Trident publishes Perspectives, a dental practice building strategies quarterly newsletter. Every quarter dentists will be able to receive this publication highlighting key products and demonstrating how they can build their practice with marketing tools and workable strategies. The first issue was published in July, highlighting Valplast. It can be read in its entirety on Trident’s website at: www.tridentlab.com.

DentalTown: I understand Trident provides dentists with a 100% written guarantee on all restorations.

Fishman: Yes, I believe our guarantee is another factor that sets us apart in the industry. We stand behind all our work, in fact, we were the first to offer lifetime guarantees on premium restorative products such as Captek and Valplast.

Dentists who have used our services, know we are very committed to their complete satisfaction and success and will do whatever it takes to ensure it. We never lose sight that we work for our customers. They are our total focus. By supporting our customers with immediate attention, superior quality, on time delivery and value, we are able to build trust.

Building a stable relationship with each and every dentist we work with leads to referral business—which is the highest compliment and endorsement a business can achieve.

DentalTown: I know from talking to many in the industry that effective communication between labs and dentists is absolutely vital. From some of the things you’ve been explaining, it sounds like Trident has found the key to meeting dentist-patient expectations through a superior method of communication?

Fishman: I believe “consistent” would be a more accurate term than “superior.” We work very hard to establish and maintain a high level of trust with dentists. This kind of reassurance helps them when they are meeting the daily challenges of patient’s expectations. To maintain this dependability, we document dentist’s preferences to make sure we follow through with all special requests.

DentalTown: How can Trident be so responsive and be able to turn cases around so quickly while many other labs take longer?

Fishman: I’m glad you brought that up because we pride ourselves in our reaction time and doing everything possible to provide quick and thorough communication. Within 24 hours of arrival, all questions, special instructions, issues and outstanding information relating to each case are addressed. This puts the ball in motion and allows us to start the fabrication process with precision.

A case study video recently produced by Microsoft demonstrated the software we are currently using made a positive impact on our business communication with our customers. We just installed new state of the art software to further improve our documentation and communication processes.

I believe Trident has many characteristics that set us apart from others in the industry. I am extremely proud of our 99% on-time delivery record. In addition to a rapid turnaround time, we are also very proud of our extremely low remake percentage. We have great systems in place so our team is very experienced in handling a variety of restorative materials with predictable precision and accuracy.

Trident’s website is filled with information
on restorative materials. Visit their
website at: www.tridentlab.com.

DentalTown: By visiting your website, I see Trident has a great deal of informative literature for patients to explain various restorative materials. From what I’ve seen, your material is very professional.

Fishman: By developing consultation tools for dentists, we are not only making a tangible investment in their practice, but also providing an easy way to offer patients superior products. Dentists can use these tools during consultations to demonstrate different restorative options such as converting cast metal partials to Valplast or upgrading non-precious crowns to Captek. By the way, while we’re on the topic of Captek, I just want to interject that Trident frequently offers dentists an opportunity to upgrade their patient’s case to a Captek restoration at no additional charge. This unique offer, previously available through direct mail and on the coverwrap of DentalTown Magazine’s June 2002 issue, is a great way for dentist’s to experience first hand the beauty and strength of a Captek restoration while really impressing their patients.

DentalTown: I’m sure DentalTown readers would like to know how Trident can deliver a high quality product at a very reasonable price while other labs customarily charge more for such quality?

Fishman: The quality, value and service we offer are passed on through our tremendous efficiencies. Because we are a larger lab, we are able to maintain the latest technology has to offer which most often translates into quicker turnaround time.

In addition, I would really be remiss if I didn’t include our dedicated and talented team. We’ve been able to assemble a focused, dedicated base of professionals and it’s these men and women who really make the difference. I’m very proud of the people on our team. We have an exceptional group of employees who pride themselves in their work.

DentalTown: Speaking of larger labs, many dentists believe that smaller or local labs can provide better service because the size of their business provides more personalized attention and higher quality craftsmanship than larger labs can provide. I read some accounts of dentists getting ‘lost’ in the proverbial shuffle and now dislike larger labs. So, how does a lab of your size provide personalized attention?

Fishman: We try to give our customers exactly what they request so I really believe we have created a combination of the best of both worlds. Our technology and procedures yield small lab personal service, while our large lab status can offer new products, practice development kits and sample models.

When IPS Eris and CEREC inLab were available, we reacted quickly by conducting training before introductions were made to the market. This enabled us to rapidly and effectively meet the market demand when the products were launched.

Whether a local lab or an express courier picks up a case, Trident starts work on it the next business day WITHOUT EXCEPTION! So working with Trident is really just as easy as a local lab.

You also must take into consideration that dentists are very concerned about receiving great value. Bigger labs, like Trident, can provide lower costs because of our savings from increased efficiencies of scale.

DentalTown: If a dentist were to ask you why he/she should choose Trident as their lab, what would be your response?

Fishman: I would look them straight in the eye and tell them Trident should be their laboratory of choice because of our consistency. Consistent quality, value, turn-around-time and consistently striving to be technically better and provide more to our clients.

I would go on and further explain that Trident offers a fair price and goes above and beyond normal expectations to fully service dentists like them. At Trident, our focus is to ensure a win-win situation for dentists and their patients.