How cases travel.
Fairmont works with dental offices throughout British Columbia and across Canada, with cases shipped by UPS and Purolator in both directions. Knowing your own pattern is what makes scheduling predictable.
Tracking removes the uncertainty
Because cases move through carriers rather than informally, a case in transit can be located. That matters most when a seat appointment is already booked and somebody needs to know whether it will arrive.
It also means a delivery has a record rather than a recollection, which resolves the occasional question about whether something was sent.
Ask about tracking rather than assuming a case is simply somewhere between the two ends.
Carrier schedules set the rhythm, not distance
The practical determinant of how a case flows is when collections and deliveries happen for your address, not how many kilometres away you are. A practice an hour out with a good pattern experiences smoother scheduling than a nearby one that sends ad hoc.
Establish your pattern precisely and book seat appointments against it rather than against an estimate. That single habit removes most scheduling friction.
If the pattern is not working for the way your list is booked, say so. It is usually adjustable.
Batch where you can
Sending cases individually as they arise produces a stream of separately handled shipments and an unpredictable pattern. Batching to a regular rhythm gives both ends something to plan around.
It also lets you group sensibly — several units for the same patient, or several cases due on the same day, handled together.
For practices at distance this matters more, because each shipment carries more time.
Plan around closures
Statutory holidays and closures at either end compress schedules on both sides, and a case sent immediately before one has effectively lost those days.
Sending a week earlier costs nothing. Discovering the compression after the case has gone does not.
The laboratory is open Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and closed weekends.
Staged cases travel more than once
A straightforward case travels twice — the record out, the restoration back. A case with a framework try-in travels four times. One with a try-in and a bite verification travels six.
Sequence those stages with the laboratory at the outset rather than appointment by appointment, so the patient gets a realistic picture of how many visits are involved.
Booking each stage as though it were independent is the commonest cause of a treatment plan that keeps slipping.
Give somebody ownership of tracking
The single most useful practice-side habit is a named person who knows what is out, what is due, and what needs chasing. Without that, cases are tracked by whoever happens to notice, which works until it does not.
It matters more as volume grows. With twenty cases out rather than three, informal tracking stops being viable and the first sign of a problem becomes a patient in the chair with nothing to seat.
That person is also the natural point of contact for laboratory queries, which solves two problems at once.
If something has not arrived
Call rather than waiting. Most apparent delays resolve in a minute — the case is in transit, or it arrived and a query was raised that has not reached the right person at the practice.
Having a named person at the practice who tracks what is out and what is due prevents most of these entirely. Without that, cases are tracked by whoever happens to notice.
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Send a case
Digital scans and conventional impressions are both accepted. Cases move by UPS and Purolator, and Fairmont works with practices throughout British Columbia and across Canada.