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Background & context

Dental Stack is a B2B healthtech platform built to digitize and connect Orthodontists, Aligner Companies, Design Labs, and Patients. This project introduced Design Labs(Planning Labs) as a new user type: specialists offering aligner treatment planning as a service, and Third-Party Customers(External Customers) seeking planning services only (Different from Practices discussed in ‘Planning Orders: Practice & Partner Setup’).

Before this feature, there was no way for actual Design Labs to collaborate with external customers who only needed treatment plans and STL files, without requiring them to be on the platform themselves.

We were moving quickly with very few resources: no direct access to users, no analytics, and tight timelines. Most of the input came through my Manager, based on conversations with customers and what they were asking for.

The Challenge

Enable Design Labs to:

Invite and manage third-party customers (no subscription on the platform)
Receive planning orders from these customers
Manage the internal team
Create and send treatment plans for review
Handle STL file requests and uploads
Complete orders with clear audit trails

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In the context of clear aligner treatment, an STL file serves as a digital blueprint, or a 3D computer model of a patient's teeth and gums.

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Key user types

User Type	What They Do
Design Labs	Specialists providing aligner treatment planning services; can invite internal team members and external customers
Third-Party Customers	External users who need treatment plans and STL files but don't track patient treatments on the platform

What we built

A standalone two-party flow for Design Labs to serve external customers (not on our platform).