Part 2: The Dental Technician Challenges I Faced【Dental Technician Issues and Digital Dentistry】
~The Reality of Master Craftsmanship and Successor Shortages~
Immediately after graduation, I joined the historic study group “Akasaka-kai” and apprenticed under Dr. Kunihiko Teranishi, a leading figure in the dental community. Here, high-quality treatment relying on traditional craftsmanship rather than digital technology was practiced.
For instance, firing full-mouth ceramic restorations to achieve perfect occlusal contact points, or fitting partial denture metal frames with precision so tight they seem to suck onto the mouth. Such skills cannot be mastered overnight; they truly belong to the world of master craftsmen. And it was the dental technicians who actually embodied these master craftsmen’s skills. Only with excellent technicians can a dentist’s ideal vision be recreated within the patient’s mouth.
However, at a certain point, I witnessed a serious problem.
It was the reality that few young dental technicians were being trained.
■ The Aging Dental Technician Workforce and Labor Shortage
Dental technicians are fundamentally crucial in supporting dental care, yet their working conditions are far from favorable.
- Tendency toward long working hours
- Physical and mental strain from repetitive, meticulous work
- Low insurance reimbursements and limited profits as subcontractors
- Competition from low-cost overseas dental work due to globalization
Against this backdrop, more laboratories are closing, turnover rates are rising, and new entrants are extremely rare. Consequently, the dental technician population is rapidly declining, and the average age is rising. We have entered an era where finding young dental technicians has become difficult in itself.
■ My Conflict and Sense of Crisis
At Akasaka-kai, I’ve always worked alongside exceptional dental technicians. However, they are all older than me.
This meant I constantly harbored the anxiety: “Even if things are good now, what will happen in a few years?”
If the aging of technicians and the lack of successors continue unchecked, it will become impossible to reproduce the ideal treatment I envision. Furthermore, looking nationwide, the quality and quantity of prosthetics available to patients will undoubtedly decline.
That’s when I clearly realized:
“If I continue relying solely on master craftsmen’s skills, I will inevitably hit a wall in the future.”
■ Summary
The masterful treatments I learned at the Akasaka Association remain the foundation of my practice and my ideal.
However, seeing the reality of a declining dental technician population across society, I strongly felt a new method was needed to pass this legacy on to the next generation.
In the upcoming Part 3, I will specifically discuss why I decided to embrace digitalization, the background behind that decision, and the actual investment involved.