How Ace Dental Used Scanners to Make Ordering Dental Supplies Easier and Simpler

Inventory management at ACE Dental was completely manual. It was a complex, time-intensive workflow that relied on whiteboards, highlighters, Slack messages, and multiple vendor ordering portals. Every order cycle followed the same routine, and every Lead Dental Assistant (LDA) had to complete it twice a month. This took the LDA about 4-6 hours per month. Purchase orders had to be prepared and submitted by the 1st and the 15th of every month.

Because the system depended entirely on manual and time-intensive processes, ACE Dental Locations ran into three dental supply challenges:

1. Over-ordering and under-ordering dental supplies
2. Time pulled away from being chairside
3. Mistakes and missing supplies

The dental inventory workflow kept ACE running, but it was hard on everyone involved. Some of the LDAs had to “skip lunch or create the order lists at home after hours.” ACE Dental needed a way to simplify their dental supply ordering process without disrupting how their teams worked.

ACE replaced handwritten notes and Slack uploads with barcode stickers and scanning, allowing LDAs to add needed items throughout the month as they went about their work. The same familiar flow, checking stock, reviewing needs, preparing supply orders, still existed, but now LDAs could scan supplies on the go, instead of rewriting every quantity by hand, or taking their lunch to count inventory.

Once LDAs scanned their requests, everything appeared in one organized place for Kelsea to review. Instead of logging into multiple vendor portals and re-entering orders from scratch, she could simply approve quantities, assign vendors, and finalize orders within one system.

“They scan everything in… I select the suppliers and the quantity… then I just process it. It’s so much easier.”
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^‍Method also gave Ace Dental visibility into past purchase orders. Kelsea could finally see what was ordered, when it was used, and what was sitting untouched, helping her prevent overspending and over ordering dental supplies. .

Significant Time Savings
What took Kelsea 10 hours to complete now takes 2. Her staff is able to create their individual dental supply orders in minutes.

Fewer Mistakes and Less Stress
‍With scanning instead of filling out an order sheet, fewer dental supplies are missed, and LDAs feel more empowered in the process. Inventory no longer disrupts patient care or personal time. Teams don’t skip lunches or stay late just to meet order deadlines.

Overall, it’s much simpler, and the teams feel empowered when it comes to ordering and managing dental supplies.

Dental Supply Spending Decreased
‍In the first three months, ACE Dental saved over $3,000 by not over- and under-ordering dental supplies.

They’re on track to cut an additional $9,000 on dental supply spend!

A Streamlined Supply Ordering Process
‍Ace Dental was able to keep its ordering process in place, but streamlined it with Methods scanners and software. Method simply removed the friction and administrative weight of ordering dental supplies.

Kelsea summarized the change perfectly:
‍“It made everything more seamless and simplified. We don’t dread inventory anymore.”