An interview with Caroline Kirkpatrick

Fraser Macdonald, Dental Tribune International

Thu. 21. May 2026

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This year, exocad Insights, held in Palma de Mallorca in Spain, celebrated dental professionals who are using digital workflows to support more collaborative and patient-focused care. Caroline Kirkpatrick, a clinical dental technician with more than 30 years of experience, gave a presentation on the digital evolution of removable prosthetics, why dental technicians should consider adding this to their services and how exocad software can support the process. In this interview with Dental Tribune International during the event, she expands on these ideas and reflects on the wider shift from analogue to digital dentistry.

Caroline Kirkpatrick, a dental technician with over 30 years of experience working at the intersection of digital and analogue dental technologies. (Image: Caroline Kirkpatrick)

Ms Kirkpatrick, over the past 30 years, you’ve worked through dentistry’s transition from analogue to digital. What do you think are the biggest benefits—and challenges—for laboratories adopting digital workflows today?
The biggest benefit is the transfer of information and how much more accurate it has become. That accuracy allows technicians to produce restorations much more efficiently and with far fewer inconsistencies throughout the process. Because I work both with patients and in the laboratory, I’ve been able to see the difference very clearly between the analogue workflows in the past and the way we work digitally today. The speed of the process is completely different. In the past, if there was an error, you had to retrace every step to figure out where it happened. Now, we can receive accurate information immediately, verify that it’s correct and move forward confidently knowing that the workflow is reliable and efficient.

As for the challenges, I think the biggest one is adapting to the change in mindset and learning new systems. I don’t think cost is the major barrier any more. Companies like exocad now offer subscription models, so laboratories don’t necessarily face a huge upfront investment. Once technicians and laboratories see how much time is saved, how much manual labour is reduced and how much material waste can be eliminated, the benefits become obvious. The biggest thing is simply being willing to invest time in learning the workflow properly.

In removable full-arch implant prosthetic workflows, what workflow adjustments make the biggest difference in achieving predictable clinical results and patient satisfaction?
One of the biggest improvements has been the implementation of smile design tools like Smile Creator within exocad software. We can now import photographs directly into the software and match the design to the patient’s actual facial features. That changes everything because you’re no longer relying only on information sent from the dentist and hoping that the final smile will suit the patient. Instead, you can design while looking directly at the patient’s face in the software, which makes the process much more accurate and predictable.

Another major advantage is that we can create the entire final design before treatment even begins. For example, if a patient is receiving implants and immediate prostheses, we can complete the design in advance and store everything in the patient’s digital case file. Once the implant positions have been added, the software connects everything together very quickly.

Using analogue workflows, treatments like this could take an entire day. Now, because so much preparation is completed beforehand, the process becomes dramatically faster. Manufacturing software and 3D-printing technologies can even produce provisional complete prostheses in around half an hour, which is an incredible transformation compared with traditional workflows.

You work directly with patients and also test materials and refine workflows in clinical settings. What practical advice would you give technicians and clinicians when choosing materials for digital removable prostheses?
Because my work spans both patient care and technical production, I probably have more freedom to experiment with materials and workflows than someone who is only sending work to a laboratory. My curiosity and willingness to test different approaches allows me to refine procedures directly in clinical situations.

The advice I would give both technicians and clinicians is to step back and evaluate the case carefully before deciding on the design or workflow. First, think about the type of prosthesis you want to provide for that specific patient. Then consider which materials and production methods will give you the best long-term function, aesthetics and durability.

“My curiosity and willingness to test different approaches allows me to refine procedures directly in clinical situations.”

Material selection should always be guided by the clinical situation rather than simply choosing what is most familiar. When you take the time to evaluate all the available options first, you can create a far better long-term result for the patient.

Many technicians specialising in crown and bridge work have been hesitant to move into removable prosthetic work. What would you say to those who may not yet recognise the potential of digital removable prostheses?
I really want to encourage technicians to look at the profession as a whole rather than focusing too narrowly on one specialty area. Of course, nobody can master every single discipline completely, but understanding different areas of prosthetic work helps us deliver more comprehensive treatment overall.

Digital tools have made removable prostheses far easier to fabricate than they were in the analogue era. The software simplifies many of the complicated manual processes that used to make removable prostheses feel intimidating. The workflow is now more streamlined, faster and far more efficient. There’s also still a huge demand for removable prostheses. Patients continue to need these solutions, and digital workflows have made them much more profitable because production time has been reduced so dramatically.

In my presentation, I showed a partial denture case that incorporated individual crowns. Cases like that still require strong skills in crowns and bridges, but they also demonstrate how digital removable prostheses can deliver highly aesthetic and natural-looking outcomes. I would tell technicians not to overlook this area of dental technology. The tools are already here, the materials are excellent, and digital removable prostheses can be every bit as sophisticated and rewarding as ceramic work.

At exocad Insights, what key message are you hoping attendees will take away from your session?
I hope that attendees will leave with the understanding that digital dentistry has removed much of the complexity from removable prosthetic workflows that were once considered extremely difficult. Digital workflows now allow clinics and laboratories to transfer information much more efficiently and accurately. At the same time, many of the trusted principles and techniques from analogue dentistry can still be carried over into digital workflows successfully.

What digital systems really do is reduce the amount of time needed to produce high-quality work. Digital workflows help clinicians and technicians move beyond merely reaching an acceptable standard by making it easier to deliver a higher level of quality, precision and predictability for patients.