What Has Happened to Dental Technicians?

As a Clinical Dental Technician and Managing Director of Bremadent Dental Laboratory, I have spent more than two decades in the dental technology industry. During that time, I have seen incredible advancements in materials, digital workflows, CAD design, milling technology, 3D printing, implant dentistry, and patient expectations. Yet despite all of these improvements, one issue continues to concern me more than any new technology ever could.
Standards.

Recently, we had a dental technician attend our laboratory for a trial. On paper, everything looked promising. Years of experience. A strong CV. Confidence in their abilities. Claims of being able to produce a wide range of dental restorations. Unfortunately, when it came time to assess the actual work being produced, a very different picture emerged.  The quality was simply not at a standard that we could send to a dentist or patient with confidence.

The surprising part was not the quality itself. The surprising part was the reaction. Instead of recognising the issues and looking for ways to improve, the response was that our standards were too high.

Apparently, we should simply let the work continue through production without intervention. That conversation left me asking a question that I suspect many dentists have asked themselves over the years.

What has happened to some dental technicians?

Experience Does Not Always Equal Quality
One of the biggest misconceptions in any profession is that years of experience automatically translate into high standards.

• Experience is valuable.
• Experience teaches efficiency.
• Experience teaches problem solving.
• Experience teaches judgement.
  
  

But only if the individual is willing to learn, adapt, and remain accountable for their work. Someone can perform the same task for twenty years and still perform it poorly. The dental industry is no different.

I have met technicians with three years of experience who consistently produce exceptional work and technicians with thirty years of experience who have not evolved, improved, or accepted feedback for decades.

Dentists should never assume that experience alone guarantees quality. The quality of the outcome is what matters.

The Bricklayer Analogy
I often compare this situation to a bricklayer building a wall. Anyone can stack bricks. The real question is whether the wall is straight. Is it level? Will it stand the test of time? Does it meet the required standard?

If a wall is leaning, uneven, or structurally compromised, nobody would accept the excuse that "the builder has been doing it for twenty years."

The quality of the result is what matters.

Dental technology is no different.

A denture can be made. A crown can be produced. An implant restoration can be designed.
But if the fit is poor, the aesthetics are compromised, the occlusion is incorrect, or the restoration creates additional chairside adjustments, has the job really been completed successfully?

The answer is no. The patient does not care how many years someone has worked in a laboratory. The patient only cares whether the restoration works. The dentist only cares whether the restoration fits, functions, and saves valuable clinical time.

The Hidden Cost of Poor Standards
One comment made during the trial stood out to me. The technician questioned how we could possibly make money if we keep sending work back for alterations. At first glance, it sounds like a reasonable question.
But it completely misses the bigger picture. At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we believe that quality control is not a cost. It is an investment.

Every restoration that is carefully checked before leaving the laboratory helps reduce:
• Chairside adjustment time
• Additional patient appointments
• Remakes
• Complaints
• Loss of confidence
• Damage to practice reputation
• Clinical frustration

The cost of allowing substandard work to leave the laboratory is almost always greater than the cost of correcting it internally before dispatch. This is something that many high-performing laboratories understand. Quality control is not about perfection. It is about consistency.

The Difference Between Producing Work and Taking Pride in Work
There is a significant difference between producing dental restorations and taking pride in dental restorations.
Most technicians can make something. Not every technician is willing to reject their own work when it does not meet the required standard. That distinction matters. At Bremadent, we regularly challenge ourselves.

1. We review cases.
2. We question outcomes.
3. We ask whether something can be improved.
4. We encourage our teams to identify issues before a dentist ever sees them.
5. Sometimes that means reworking a case.
6. Sometimes that means remaking a case.
7. Sometimes that means admitting that something could be better.
8. That is not weakness.
9. That is professionalism.

The laboratories that consistently deliver excellent results are usually the laboratories willing to criticise their own work before anyone else does.

Why Dentists Should Care
Many dentists never get to see what happens inside a dental laboratory. They receive the finished restoration and judge the outcome. What they do not always see are the processes behind it.

• The quality checks.
• The remakes.
• The internal reviews.
• The conversations about marginal integrity, aesthetics, function, and fit.
• Not all laboratories operate in the same way.

Some laboratories prioritise speed above everything else. Some prioritise volume. Some prioritise price.
At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we prioritise standards.

That does not mean we are perfect. Nobody is.

But it does mean that we are prepared to challenge ourselves and our team members whenever work falls below the level expected by our clients.

Dentists should be asking laboratories important questions:
• What quality control procedures do you have?
• How are restorations checked before dispatch?
• Who signs off work?
• What training do your technicians receive?
• How do you handle remakes?
• What standards do you work to?
The answers often reveal far more than a price list ever will.

The Industry Challenge We Need to Address
The dental technology profession faces genuine challenges.

• An ageing workforce.
• Skills shortages.
• Recruitment difficulties.
• Increased overseas competition.
• Growing demand for faster turnaround times.
• Pressure on pricing.
• These challenges are real.

However, lowering standards cannot be the solution.

If anything, standards need to become even more important.

As digital dentistry continues to evolve, technical competence alone will not be enough.

1. Attention to detail.
2. Critical thinking.
3. Quality control.
4. Professional pride.
5. These will become the true differentiators between laboratories.
6. Technology can improve efficiency.
7. Technology can improve consistency.
8. Technology cannot replace professional judgement.
   
   

Why We Refuse to Compromise
At Bremadent Dental Laboratory, we have built our reputation on consistency, accountability, and quality. Since acquiring the laboratory through a management buyout, one principle has remained unchanged. If a restoration does not meet our standard, it does not leave the building.

Simple.

That approach is not always the easiest. It is not always the cheapest. It is not always the fastest.
But it is the right thing to do. The dentists we work with trust us because they know we care about the outcome as much as they do. They know that our team understands the impact a restoration has on clinical time, patient satisfaction, and practice reputation.

Most importantly, they know that we will never allow someone with lower standards to dictate ours. Because standards are not something that should be negotiated. They are something that should be protected.

In a profession built around precision, detail, and patient care, quality must always come first. The future of dental technology depends on it.

We provide a trusted laboratory service delivering consistent quality, saving chairside time, and supporting predictable patient outcomes.

📞: 0208 520 8528

 📧: [email protected] 

📍: 25A St James Street, London, E17 7PJ