Stop Re-Typing iTero Orders: A Guide to Automating Lab Intake

The "Double Entry" Problem

Here's a familiar scene:

1. You get an email: "New case from Dr. Smith."
2. You log into the scanner portal (MyiTero, 3Shape Communicate, Medit Link).
3. You write down the patient name, tooth numbers, shade and due date on a sticky note.
4. You walk over to your whiteboard or open Excel.
5. You type it all in again.

We call this the "Swivel Chair Interface." It's slow, boring, and it's where a lot of lab errors happen. (Ever typed "tooth #13" when the Rx said "#31"?) Multiply it by 20 or 30 cases a day and it's a part-time job.

Why Direct Scanner Integration Is Hard

Every scanner brand runs its own portal, and official connections between those portals and lab software are mostly partner programs that small software vendors (and small labs) can't easily join. Custom integration work is expensive and breaks when the portal changes. And asking doctors to click extra buttons to send cases a different way rarely works: they will send the case the way they always have.

The Common Denominator: Email

Whatever scanner a doctor uses, the lab almost always gets an email: a portal notification when a case is shared, or the doctor's own email with an Rx PDF, photos or scan files attached. That email is the one input every lab already receives, so it's the practical place to automate.

Good email intake should do five things:

1. Create the case card automatically on your board, instead of waiting for someone to re-type it.
2. Match the doctor from the sender, including the case where a portal's no-reply address sends on the doctor's behalf.
3. Pull the fields that are there: patient, teeth, shade, material, rush flag, due date.
4. Attach the files (STL/PLY/OBJ scans, DICOM, PDFs, photos) to the case.
5. Keep junk out: newsletters and supplier promotions should not become cases, and the same order arriving twice should not create two cases.

What to Expect, Scanner by Scanner

Be realistic: what can be read automatically depends on what the email actually contains.

• Medit Link: the "new order request" email is fairly rich. It includes the order ID, the requesting practice, the requested delivery date, the case title (which usually carries the patient's name), and often teeth and comments.
• 3Shape Communicate: the notification carries the order number and a link to the case, but not the full prescription. Automation can create and link the case; the details still live in Communicate.
• iTero: notification emails are thin, and the scan and Rx live in the iTero/MyAlignTech portal. The most email intake can do is put a case on your board as a reminder; plan on downloading the scan and Rx from the portal. Asking iTero doctors to add patient, teeth and due date to their message helps. If the doctor also emails an Rx or notes, those fields can be read from the text.
• Doctor emails with an Rx: when the email text says "Patient: …", "Teeth: …", "Shade: …", those fields can be read directly. For free-form emails, an AI reader can pick them out of plain sentences.

Even when the portal email is thin, the win is the same: incoming cases land on the board the moment they arrive, instead of waiting in someone's inbox. Typing the rest takes seconds instead of minutes.

How to Set It Up

1. Give the lab one intake address and ask doctors (and each scanner portal) to send cases there.
2. Add your doctors with their email addresses, so cases match to the right account automatically.
3. Decide who may create cases. An allow-list of known senders (your doctors, the scanner portals) keeps a stray sales email from turning into a case.
4. Review the first week. Check which fields came through for each scanner your doctors use, and ask the heaviest senders to include patient, teeth and due date in the email text.

How SimpleLabOS Handles It

SimpleLabOS gives every lab an intake address. Incoming emails become cases on your Kanban board, with the doctor matched, attachments saved to the case (up to 100 MB per file, with 3D preview for STL, PLY and OBJ), 3Shape Communicate and Medit Link notifications recognised, and repeat notifications for the same 3Shape or Medit order kept on one case. Email intake is included on the Standard plan and above.

Related reading: the dental lab digital workflow guide and how to track cases from intake to shipping. Start a free trial and forward your next case to see it land on the board.