Most people who visit our Ottawa clinic see the reception area, the consultation rooms, and the fitting chair — but not the room where their denture actually takes shape. Tucked behind those spaces is a working denture lab, where impressions become plaster models, models become a trial set of teeth, and that trial set eventually becomes the denture you'll wear every day. Having that lab under the same roof is one of the most practical parts of visiting us. Here's what actually happens inside a denture lab, who does the work, and what on-site really changes for your appointments.
What Happens Inside a Denture Lab
A denture lab is where the technical side of denture-making happens, one careful step at a time. It starts with an impression of your gums and any remaining teeth, taken by your denturist, which becomes a plaster model of your mouth. From that model, our lab technicians build a wax try-in version of the denture, setting each tooth by hand to match your bite, your facial support, and the shade you and your denturist chose together. Once you've tried that version in and it's approved, the case moves to processing — the stage where the acrylic base is formed and cured around the teeth. The last stage is finishing: trimming, smoothing, and polishing the denture so the surfaces that touch your gums and tongue feel comfortable rather than rough. Each stage builds on the one before it, and a change made early on — a bite adjustment, a different tooth shade — carries through to every stage after it. That's part of why keeping the whole process close together matters.
Who Crafts Your Denture
Two different skills go into every denture, and it helps to know how they divide. Your denturist is the clinical side: they take the impressions, plan the design, choose the tooth shape and shade with you, and are the ones who fit and adjust the finished denture in your mouth. Our lab technicians are the technical side: they build the denture to that design, setting the teeth, processing the acrylic, and finishing the surfaces by hand. Neither role replaces the other — a denturist doesn't build the denture alone, and a lab technician doesn't decide how it should fit. Because the two teams work in the same building, they can talk through a tricky bite or an unusual ridge shape in person, rather than relying only on written notes and photos. You can read more about the people behind that process on our about page.
What Having the Lab On-Site Changes for You
For you, the practical difference mostly shows up in timing and communication. Because each step happens inside the same clinic, a denture can move directly from one stage to the next, so a small adjustment after your try-in can often be reshaped and finished without a long wait. If a denture cracks, chips, or stops fitting the way it used to, our team can look at the repair directly and explain what it actually needs, instead of describing the problem secondhand. The same applies to a reline, when the shape of your gums has changed over time and the fit needs to catch up. And because our lab technicians are close by, the shade and shape of your teeth can be checked against your own smile in person — in daylight, next to your natural colouring — rather than approved from a photograph alone.
Quality Control, Up Close
Quality control benefits from having the person who designed a denture and the person who built it look at the same piece together. That's the advantage of having both under one roof: your denturist and the lab technicians can review a denture side by side, catch a high spot or an uneven bite before it becomes a bigger problem, and send it back for a small refinement without losing days to back-and-forth. It's a collaborative process, not a one-person job, and it's part of why each stage gets the attention it does. If you'd like to understand what goes into a well-fitted denture, our guide to quality dentures goes into more detail.
Does On-Site Matter for Every Visit?
Honestly, not for every step. Fittings and check-ups at our Perth and Carleton Place locations work smoothly, and patients there are seen by the same licensed denturists, following the same process from impressions through to the final fit. What changes is simply where the denture itself is built: every denture across all of our locations is crafted in our Ottawa lab, then brought to that location for fitting and adjustments. Being on-site mostly means proximity — moving between the fitting chair and the lab bench without leaving the building, rather than a difference in how carefully the denture is made. It's a convenience for scheduling and small adjustments, not a requirement for a well-made denture.
If you'd like to see how that process works for your own situation, book a free consultation with one of our licensed denturists. They can walk you through what to expect, from your first impression to the finished fit, and answer any questions about timing along the way.
Reviewed by our licensed denturists · Updated July 2026