Dental lab technician working on a zirconia crown with a CAD/CAM milling machine
[ Dental labs · Real cost per unit produced ]

Know the real margin on every crown.

Material cost, technician time, lab hourly rate. EUSTAK complements your order management system and shows whether the price list actually covers your costs.

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The invisible cost of every crown that leaves the lab

Every crown, bridge or prosthesis you produce has a real cost made of materials, technician time and milling hours, before you even consider what you bill for it. Rent is due either way. The milling machine depreciates. Technician time has a cost, even when it never shows up on an invoice.

If you do not calculate real cost per unit, you do not know what you actually earn. A crown billed at 90 EUR with 15 EUR of material looks like 75 EUR of margin. But if traditional press production takes 148 minutes (Sailer et al., 2017) and your hourly rate is 35 EUR/h, time alone costs nearly 87 EUR. Real margin can be close to zero, or negative.

Cost per unit is just the start. Here's what actually changes.

$120 per zirconia disc
yields 20 crowns on average (Dental Products Report, 2021) — few labs know the exact material cost of a single crown.
3.8% remake rate
is the measured average across a 3,750-crown study — a hidden cost almost nobody tracks systematically.
74% of Italian labs
have 3 people or fewer (Key-Stone OmniVision 2024): the cost-per-unit problem affects most of the sector, not just the large ones.
Margin always current
every order shows real cost (materials from invoices, technician time, outsourcing) updated automatically.

Data from published studies (3,750-crown study) and a 2021 US commercial reference for zirconia disc price. Your actual figure depends on your suppliers, materials and hourly rate.

// flow

From cost per unit to real margin in four steps

Multi-unit zirconia bridge on a dental lab workbench
Modern dental laboratory with CAD/CAM milling machines
STEP_01

Calculate your hourly rate

Enter the lab's monthly indirect costs (rent, equipment, depreciation) and monthly productive hours. The system calculates the cost of every hour of work automatically.

STEP_02

Set up your unit types

EUSTAK includes 12 predefined unit types (crowns, bridges, veneers, dentures) with reference duration and material cost. Customize them based on your real suppliers.

STEP_03

Log orders per technician

Every order records quantity, the technicians involved, and materials used. The system calculates total cost automatically, including work time.

STEP_04

See margin on every price list

For every order, EUSTAK shows real cost against the price billed to the dental practice. You know before invoicing whether the price actually covers costs.

Cost per unit: the number most labs ignore

Monthly indirect costs:      4,500 EUR
Productive hours/month:      130 h
-----------------------------------
Lab hourly rate:               35 EUR/h

TRADITIONAL PRESSED CROWN (148 min of work)
  Material cost:               15 EUR
  Technician time cost:        86 EUR  - almost 6x the material
  ------------------------------
  Real cost:                  101 EUR
  Price list:                  90 EUR
  Real margin:                -11 EUR  (a loss, not +75 EUR as assumed)

Without cost per unit, you think you earn 75 EUR per crown. Reality can be a loss. Multiply this difference across hundreds of units per year.

Everything you need to control lab profitability

[01]

Automatic hourly rate

Enter indirect costs and productive hours. The system calculates the cost of every work hour and assigns it to each order.

[02]

Library of 12 unit types

Crowns, bridges, veneers, dentures, abutments, and more, all preloaded with reference times and costs, customizable with your real data.

[03]

Technician management

Track multiple technicians with their own cost per unit. The system includes it automatically in the order total.

[04]

Remake tracking

Every order flagged as a remake is tracked. See your real remake rate, not a guess.

[05]

Material cost from invoices

Connect your material suppliers' invoices. Cost updates on its own when prices change.

Choose your plan

Base

Invoices, accounting and expense dashboard

€14,90/month + VAT
  • +Invoice sync via Gmail/Outlook
  • +Invoice sync from tax drawer
  • +AI invoice parsing
  • +AI expense categorisation
  • +Expense dashboard & analytics

Without dental module

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Dental labsFull plan

The complete stack for dental labs

€59,90/month + VAT
  • +Everything in Base (invoices + accounting)
  • +Lab setup and hourly rate
  • +Catalogue of 12 pre-loaded unit types
  • +Technician management
  • +Orders with automatic margin calculation
  • +Material costs updated from invoices
  • +Remake rate tracking
  • +Advanced lab analytics
Start free trial

7 days free · No credit card · Cancel anytime

Also running a dental practice? Same calculation engine, built for the clinic instead of the lab — see the Dental plan.

// learn more

Resources on dental lab costs

blog

The hidden hours of running a dental lab

→
blog

How to calculate bridge production cost in a dental lab

→
blog

Mill in-house or outsource? The break-even calculation

→
blog

How to calculate crown production cost in a dental lab

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FAQ on dental lab production cost and profitability

How do you calculate the production cost of a crown?+
Real cost is the sum of material cost (from supplier invoices), technician time (work duration times hourly rate), and any outsourcing cost. Hourly rate is the lab's monthly indirect costs divided by monthly productive hours.
How do you calculate a lab's hourly rate?+
Divide monthly indirect costs (rent, equipment, depreciation) by monthly productive work hours. More productive hours means a lower hourly rate, because fixed costs spread across more billable time.
What is included in an order's cost?+
EUSTAK calculates three components: material cost (from invoices or entered manually), technician time cost (duration times hourly rate, for one or two technicians), and any outsourcing cost. The sum is the order's real cost.
Can I customize unit types and costs?+
Yes. EUSTAK includes 12 standard unit types (crowns, bridges, veneers, dentures) preloaded with reference times and costs. You can edit any value, add new unit types, or disable the ones you do not use.
How do I track multiple technicians on the same order?+
Every order can have up to two active technicians, each with their own cost per unit. The system adds them automatically to the order's total cost.
How do I track remakes?+
Flag an order as a remake and the system calculates your real remake rate (remade quantity over total quantity produced) instead of a guess.
Do I need to already be an EUSTAK customer?+
No, EUSTAK for dental labs works exactly like it does for restaurants and dental practices: you sign up and choose your business type during onboarding.
How was this data verified?+
Industry research from real sources — peer-reviewed studies, supplier price lists, trade associations — not guesses. Sources are cited and linked directly in our blog articles on crowns, bridges and lab production.
Does EUSTAK replace my lab management software?+
No. EUSTAK does not manage client orders, shipping, or communication with dental practices. It sits alongside your existing system as a profitability layer: it tells you the real cost and margin of every order.

Stop invoicing by guesswork

Know the real cost of every crown, bridge or prosthesis before you bill it. 7 days free, no card required.

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