Case study · Stunning Dental Lab

Precision in the lab. Simplicity behind the scenes.

Stunning Dental Lab is our family's boutique orthodontic lab in Varsity Lakes, on the Gold Coast. It makes fixed retainers by hand. Behind every case sit scans, jobs, invoices, suppliers and GST, and we built the system that keeps them together.

Live Gold Coast, Queensland Brand, website + lab system
stunningdentallab.com.au
Stunning Dental Lab website home page: 'Fixed retainers. Crafted with clinical expertise.'
The lab

Specialist hands. A brand to match.

We created the lab's visual identity and website: a calm, clinical look in navy and teal, written for the dental clinics the lab works with.

Adriane, co-founder and lead technician at Stunning Dental Lab

Adriane

Co-founder and lead technician. The system follows each case the way she works it at the bench, so the screens make sense to the person doing the work.

Where it began

Built on what the first system taught us

The lab's first system was built in Claris FileMaker, the platform where Thiago learned to design business systems years earlier, starting with Remarkables. It ran the lab well and shaped how the work was organised.

When the lab was ready to grow, we carried everything that system had taught us into a modern cloud application the team can use from anywhere.

Carrying the history across

Every clinic, supplier, invoice and expense came across. We then checked the new system against the lab's annual financial report, and it matched to the cent before the team switched over.

Behind the scenes

From the bench to the books.

Real screens from the lab's management system. Patient names, clinic details and all amounts are blurred.

At the bench

Every case moves through clear stages, from scan to delivery. Priorities, holds and notes stay with the job, so nothing gets lost between the bench and the office.

  1. Scan received
  2. Scan edited
  3. Ready for printing
  4. Model ready
  5. Processing
  6. Ready for delivery
  7. Delivered
Jobs workflow screen grouped by week, with priority and workflow status for each case; names blurred

From finished job to paid invoice

Finished jobs are pulled into an invoice, the PDF is created and emailed to the clinic, and the jobs only move on once the email has actually gone. When the invoice is paid, its jobs close themselves.

Tax invoice screen with the import ready jobs button; clinic details and amounts blurred

The numbers behind the business

Income, expenses, GST and the quarterly BAS come from the same records the team already keeps, on a cash basis and the Australian financial year.

Pay is worked out with the ATO's own withholding formula and recorded in the accounts. Payslips and Single Touch Payroll still go through dedicated payroll software, for now.

Finance dashboard with income, costs, GST and BAS cards and monthly charts; all values blurred
Where it's up to

What runs today, and what comes next.

Live today

Running in the lab

  • Jobs workflow from scan to delivery
  • Clinics, price list and suppliers
  • Invoices created, emailed and tracked
  • Expenses with stored receipts
  • Financial report, GST and BAS
  • Pay calculations recorded in the accounts
In development

Being built now

  • Marketing: the structure is ready, content to come
  • Versions for iPad and phone at the bench
Planned

Next steps

  • Reporting pay directly to the ATO, without separate payroll software
The technology behind the simplicity

Built around the lab's own rules.

Eight screens were designed and approved with the people who use them before a line of the real system was built.

A relational database

PostgreSQL, with rules such as GST and cash-basis reporting built into the data.

Secure sign-in

Individual logins through Amazon Cognito, from any authorised device.

Email that confirms

Invoices are sent through the lab's own email, so a job only moves on once it has really gone.

Files kept in order

Invoices and receipts stored privately in the cloud, named consistently.

Specialist work deserves simple systems.

Tell us how your business runs, and we'll look at what could be simpler.

Book a workflow review