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Corporate Profile: EA Dental Labs Benjamin Lund, Editor, Dentaltown Magazine

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Fed up with shelling out for rising lab fees, practicing dentist Dr. Jon Germany took restorations into his own hands and built EA Dental Labs.

Dr. Jon Germany is a busy guy these days. He has been a full-time "bread-and-butter" general practitioner for a little more than five years, but in his first year of dental practice in Brandon, Mississippi, he wanted to improve his business. After doing everything he could to treat his patients efficiently and offer them the best care possible while still maximizing his profits, he noticed a massive chunk of his gross revenue was going toward paying his dental lab bills. While searching for the best way to reduce his lab costs, Dr. Germany's frustration with his failure to find a low-cost solution, coupled with his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to help his fellow dental colleagues, propelled him to start up his own laboratory – EA Dental Labs. Dr. Germany's upstart dental lab company not only boasts "superior restorations at half the cost," but he can now offer his colleagues a low-cost solution to rising dental lab fees so they can also enjoy a much more efficient and profitable practice. In this interview, EA Dental Labs Founder and CEO Dr. Germany explains his lab's unique philosophy and cost-reduction business model.		 EA Dental Labs Founder and CEO Dr. Jon Germany  

Dr. Germany, why did you get into dentistry in the first place and how has your practice progressed since you started?
Germany: When I was an undergrad I shadowed a physician. I really didn't like the hours they had to work or the fact that they were required to be on call all the time. For some reason dentistry just rung a bell with me. So I started shadowing a few dentists and I really enjoyed it. Many dentists work only four days a week and there's no weekend calls. To me, that was just an ideal situation. But a year after I got into practice, I realized there were some things that I could do to rev it up. First, I got a coach named Mike Abernathy who helped me put some systems in place that really accelerated my practice. He practiced in McKinney, Texas, for years with Summit Management. They helped me to learn that there is a certain way to do things in a dental office that increases efficiency. Since I didn't have to learn this on my own, that saved me time, effort and money. Their process helped me implement everything from my marketing to the most efficient treatment-plan for my patients as well as my office management practices. There is a specific way to do all of this effectively, and once I implemented these systems into my practice, it started running like a Swiss watch.

From here, how and why did you get involved with EA Dental Labs?
Germany: As my practice started to take off, I noticed that my lab bills were crippling my profitability, eating into 10 to 12 percent of my gross revenue. If I ever hoped to grow my business to where I wanted it to be, I had to find a way to reduce that huge expense. My big wake-up call came when I visited a local lab and the gentleman who was pouring the models for my lab work was the exact same guy who had changed the oil in my truck the week before. That's when I thought, "Uh oh, there are some serious issues here." The work was marginal, yet very expensive. I thought I could bargain with the lab. I asked, "If I pay my lab bill early, would you knock something off the price?" They not only refused my request, but immediately after that they didn't want to work with me anymore. I began to study some of the other labs around the country and I discovered that a lot of them had created partnerships overseas. So I flew to China to do my due diligence, and while I was there I developed a professional relationship with a well-known dentist. We formed a partnership, bought our own facility and started our own world-class lab that meets my fanatical high standards. We currently employ 500 technicians and translators who work together in making sure that the work meets the quality we are used to in the United States. It's really an awesome operation that we have created, but it didn't happen overnight. It took us several long, painstaking years to get to this point, but now we feel we have created a fine-tuned machine. So in a nutshell, that's how EA got started. By doing all of this, I was able to cut my lab bill in half. That was extremely important to me since I wanted to be able to help my family with our expenses, pay for my kid's college education, or have the ability to donate to my favorite charities. Unfortunately, the way my previous lab bill kept growing at such a rapid pace, I felt like I was working for the lab instead of working for myself. Now, I am offering the same opportunity to other dentists who want to keep more of their hard-earned dollars.

So, you send all of your restorations off shore?
Germany: Yes, we do. This allows us huge savings in both money and labor. One thing I discovered that shocked me was how difficult its now become in the U.S. to find qualified dental technicians. Any dentist knows that. But in China, they have a terrific two-year trade school. Every technician we employ is required to attend that school, and as a result, the quality of our technicians is superior. I didn't want my clients to experience the same lousy treatment I was getting, like finding out that the guy who was changing my oil the week before was now performing my dental lab work. We screen every applicant very carefully and choose only the best to work in our lab.

In early 2008, a woman in Ohio alleged that her dentist placed a crown with lead in it. The national media really ran with the story, and now the American public is extremely wary of "foreign crowns." How do you ensure dentists and patients that your products are safe?
Germany: We addressed that concern right up front by buying from world-renowned dental manufacturers for all of our products. Also, at the end of each month, we take random restoration samples and send them to a trusted independent lab to have them tested. We want to be absolutely certain that everything we provide is of the highest quality. We have done that since the inception of EA, and the lab has never once found any discrepancies whatsoever with any of our products or materials. As a practicing dentist, I see between 400 and 500 patients a month, and I don't have the time to deal with marginal or substandard lab work, so I demand that our restorations meet superior quality standards. My lab partner in China and I have carefully created and implemented a seven-step quality control process that ensures everything we produce has unmatched quality and consistency.

We use the exact same materials all U.S. labs use. Our clients receive an alloy certificate with their prosthesis so they can be sure they are receiving a quality product. We offer an additional benefit to the doctors we work with by taking photographs of all of the impressions they send us. That way, if there is an issue on the front end, we will send that photo directly to the doctor and ask them if they want us to proceed with their order, or if they would prefer to take a new impression? After creating thousands of units, we discovered that approximately 20 to 30 percent of the impressions we initially receive need to be retaken. So, when we catch that on the front end, that saves our clients a lot of time, effort and expense.

We also know that every doctor we work with has his or her own individual preferences. After we start working with them, we record exactly what they want and how they want it, and we deliver it to them. Our passion at EA is to provide our dentists with the opportunity to make more money without reinventing the wheel.

What sets EA Dental Labs apart from the competition? What makes your lab so unique?
Germany: Since I'm a full-time practicing dentist, I understand the problems dentists have with obtaining affordable, high quality lab work. I'm not a corporate big-wig sitting behind a desk or simply articulating a crown. I've been on the receiving end of lousy lab work that doesn't fit. I've had to adjust the occlusion. I have first-hand knowledge of what goes on in patients' mouths – and I believe that's what sets us apart. So when one of our doctors calls us with a problem, I can relate to it, and my staff can relate to it better as well since I'm doing the exact same thing here.

Do you work with a lot of dentists in the United States or do you work with a lot of foreign dental practices?
Germany: We currently work with around 400 dentists in the U.S., and with the economic downturn the world is currently experiencing, we're growing very fast.

What percentage are you currently producing via automated technology versus what you project you will be producing in the next year or so?
Germany: Right now, I would say we're producing 10 to 15 percent with CAD/CAM restorations. Over the course of the next year, I expect that to increase by another 15 to 20 percent.

What are you doing right now to bring in new dentist clients?
Germany: Right now, we're marketing in several trade journals and that has worked very well for us. We also receive a tremendous number of "internal referrals," so to speak. When one doctor is pleased with our work, he tells his colleagues, and those colleagues use us and then they refer others our way, and so on.

Who is your ideal dentist client that you want to work with?
Germany: Our ideal dentist clients are caring professionals who have "bread-and-butter" practices and they're looking to provide their patients with an excellent product but expect high quality lab work coupled with a low-cost lab bill. While we have produced some very nice cosmetic work, our niche is providing high quality, low cost services to the everyday dentist.

If a dentist chooses to use EA Dental Labs, what kind of guarantees or warranties do you offer them?
Germany: First, we're currently running a "get to know us" promotional offer. We're offering dentists their first couple of units for free so they can try us out and see for themselves that we are indeed the "real deal" in both quality and price. Second, we provide a two-year "no hassle" warranty on every one of our restorations. If there are any problems, we'll remake it at no charge. To get started, most of our clients will take two impressions, send one to the lab they're currently using and one to us, and compare results. Most of them quickly discover they'll save more than 50 percent in costs with us.

When you suggest that your prices are 50 percent less than most current dental lab bills, how are your prices when compared to your competitors?
Germany: Our non-precious PFM crown is around $50. Most of my competitors' prices are around $100, and often more. There are a few other labs around the country that are also doing the same thing that we are. The difference is that most of those guys have never practiced dentistry. They might know how to do lab work, but knowing how to do lab work and actually applying that lab work to the dentistry are two different things. The advantage we have is that we fully understand the challenges on both sides.

I want to do everything in my power to make sure that every practice that works with me is successful. To ensure that success, we offer a free tele-seminar every month to educate our clients on the latest techniques and best practices they can use to improve their practices. Each month features a different speaker from around the country. These are colleagues who have a current thriving dental practice, and they fill us in on the various practices they're using to improve their dental practices and how these practices differ from everyone else.

Can you explain a little about the brand of crowns that you offer and why you chose to go with them?
Germany: We have chosen to stick with just the few tried-and-true restorations that most other dentists around the world are using. We offer all porcelain-fused-to-metal restorations, whether it be a non-precious crown all the way up to the high noble and Captek. We stick with the basic ceramic systems like the Empress crowns. We also offer the Cercon and Procera restorations. I encourage all interested dentists to check out our Web site at www.eadentallabs.com and see for themselves what we have to offer.

Is there a favorite product that you produce?
Germany: My favorite product is our Procera crown. I've delivered thousands of those and it's just an excellent restoration all the way around.

What new developments does EA Dental Labs have coming down the line?
Germany: Expect us to start offering the services of digital impressions. We're also going global. We're now working with doctors from all over the world. I think the biggest catalyst for us has been this recessionary economy. Dentists must continuously find ways to improve the quality of care they provide their patients, and still save on their everyday expenses. Money is really tight these days, and we want to do our part to help our colleagues around the world improve the quality they provide while helping them reduce their dental lab fees.

For more information on EA Dental Labs, visit www.eadentallabs.com, or call 866-567-4140.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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