Part 1: What Are Dental Technician Issues?

~The Unsung Heroes Behind Dental Care~

Are you familiar with the profession of “dental technician”?

Dental technicians are specialists who create crowns, fillings, dentures, orthodontic appliances, and more based on dentists’ instructions. Nearly all the prosthetic devices patients receive and wear are made by dental technicians. In other words, dental care isn’t solely provided by dentists and dental hygienists; dental technicians are indispensable.

■ Why Are Dental Technicians Declining?

Currently, the number of dental technicians is rapidly decreasing, becoming a social issue. Several major factors underlie this trend.

Harsh working conditions

• Tendency toward long working hours
• Constant detailed work causing significant physical and mental strain
• Low profit margins and unstable income

Low profitability due to subcontracting structures

• Most laboratories operate as subcontractors to dental clinics
• Dentists’ fees themselves are lower compared to medical doctors, and this pressure trickles down to technicians

Price competition due to globalization

• Intensifying competition with cheaper overseas labor
• Increasing number of laboratories closing due to unsustainable profits
• Declining workforce and new entrants

As a result, the number of dental technicians nationwide continues to decline, and the average age is rising. This situation could potentially impact the quality and supply of prosthetics available to patients in the future.

■ How does this affect patients?

Hearing that “the number of dental technicians is decreasing” might make you think it doesn’t concern you.

However, it actually directly affects patients in the following ways:

• Longer lead times for crowns and dentures
• Wider variation in precision and quality due to fewer technicians
• Increased cases where expensive treatments become unavoidable because insurance-covered treatments alone are insufficient

In other words, the dental technician issue is a major theme that will determine the future of dental care.

■ Summary

Dental technicians are a profession that rarely takes center stage, yet they are the foundation supporting the quality of dental care.

However, due to harsh working conditions, low profitability, and the impact of globalization, their numbers are expected to decline further.

In the next Part 2, I will discuss this problem I personally faced as a dentist and the reasons behind my decision to embrace digitalization.