Process Mining in Digital Dental Laboratories: Identifying Iterations Through Actions and Digital Artefacts

Digitalization has reshaped dental laboratory processes through digital tools and artefacts supporting clinician–laboratory collaboration; however, repeated iterations still increase coordination effort and extend delivery times. This study examined how the custom abutment process was executed in a dental laboratory and identified where and why iterations occurred during computer-aided design (CAD) modelling, design verification, and manufacturing preparation. Ten completed orders were selected, and their event log information was analyzed using process mining in Disco, complemented by contextual inquiry with domain practitioners. The analysis reconstructed observed execution from order initiation to delivery and derived a reference representation summarizing the most frequently observed ordering of actions. Across the ten orders analyzed, nine exhibited at least one iteration. Iterations were most frequently observed as returns between CAD modelling and design verification and occurred in four orders, while rescanning occurred in two orders due to insufficient or incompatible initial scan information. Contextual inquiry linked repeated action sequences to changes in digital artefacts and communication exchanges, indicating that iterations were associated with incomplete information or differences in interpretation across roles. The findings show that combining process mining with contextual inquiry enables the identification of iterations and clarifies the conditions under which they emerge.