Recession. It’s here and it looks to stay for a while, causing business of all sizes to inch up to the brink of collapse, and, unfortunately, some past that edge to closing. It’s everywhere in the media and can easily lead to panic and overreaction. But as strange as it sounds, the current decline in the U.S. and worldwide economies—with no obvious or immediate relief in sight—actually presents many excellent opportunities for stability and growth for the level-headed business owner.


“It is not the time to be selfish, to just hunker down and get through it. That’s just going to ensure a slow demise,” said Reg Goulding, President and CEO of DCS SmileScience, a dental management consulting firm in Ontario. “This is the time to renovate and to rebuild.”

Goulding is not alone in thinking that slowing business down during a slowdown in business can only lead to stoppage. “It’s not the time to lay low,” said Charles McClemens, CDT, Owner of Perception Dental Laboratories in Bradenton, Fla., and President-elect of the Florida Dental Laboratory Association. “It’s the time to regroup and remodel.”

“There’re a thousand things that can be done in the lab that get put aside because of the day-to-day technical work that needs to get done,” he said. Jobs such as reorganizing stock rooms, performing maintenance on equipment, and restructuring pickup/delivery routes for optimal efficiency down to more-mundane tasks such as washing windows or mowing grass to eliminate the expense of a cleaning or lawn service can help keep technicians, idled by a decreased caseload, busy and on the employment roll. “Do whatever you can to find alternative ways to keep them busy,” he suggested.

Another strategy to keep staff industrious during slow times is to increase job training and cross-training. “Take a metal finisher and train him to wax. Have a waxer trained to do some ceramic or composite,” suggested Greg Thayer, CDT, President of Thayer Dental Laboratory in Mechanicsburg, Pa. “Take your department managers and have them travel with your sales people. Let them get out and hear what the customers say. When they get back, they have a little bit of ownership in those customers.”

“Document what people do and what they are responsible for. At least a step-by-step description to know the process,” said Linda Donegan, CPA, a partner with the B2B CFO business management service (www.b2bcfo.com), which provides part-time CFO services for small-to-mid-market companies. She said the lab operations manual should be detailed to the point where someone could walk in off the street and know how to work a process. “Documentation is critical for growing a business,” she said.

A slower work schedule also presents the perfect opportunity to take the time for continuing education, especially in areas that up until recently have shown growth potential such as implants and digital workflow practices—areas that optimistically will rebound with the economy.

According to the results of the December 2008 DLP State of the Industry Survey, most lab owners plan to do just that. More than four out of five survey participants (81.0%) said they plan on attending CE classes in 2009, which represents a slight increase from the 78.6% who planned for CE in a similar 2005 DLP survey. Courses being focused on and showing the greatest increase in interest levels are CAD/CAM systems (up 16.7 percentage points from 2005) and implants (up 2.4 points) .

In addition, education on emerging technologies new to the most recent survey revealed curiosity among respondents with digital impression-taking systems at 28.3% and 3D implant treatment at 13.4%. By gaining valuable knowledge on these high-tech arenas, you could position yourself and your business in specialized areas to be ready for the economic upturn.

Expanding technical knowledge into areas such as implants or going beyond the traditional menu of services offers you new avenues for growth. Implant cases that were in the surgical placement phase before the economy slowed may be delayed until the economy stabilizes and finished in a year or so. Also, restorative cases that involved placement of a bridge may be downsized to a more economical removable partial prosthetic, which would then be upgraded to the fixed restoration in better times.

Tim Lane, CDT, Owner of Cynosure Dental Lab in Memphis, sees his removables business as fairly recession-proof. “When the economy is good, people in the lower income levels can buy removables, whether it be flippers, new dentures, or their first denture. When the economy is bad, those people drop out of our market, but the people who were above as far as getting crowns and implants, they’ll drop down to getting dentures instead of overdentures, partials instead of crown and bridge.”

“Anything elective has been put on hold,” said Jim Ferrell, President of The Anaheim Group, which compiles the DentalFax industry newsletters (www.dentalfax.com). “That has had a tremendous impact on the lab market.”

McClemens, who is in the process of working toward accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, said the economic slowdown has definitely impacted his high-end cosmetic work and presented him with an intriguing dilemma. “I can’t get the patient load that I need for the specific casework that I need to complete the AACD accreditation requirements,” he said. “I have the time to do them, and I have the time to do all the particulars that go along with it.”

“We’re going to adjust hours for the entire staff to match the amount of work we receive so nobody loses their job, and everyone retains their benefits,” said Thayer, who may cut back from regular four 10-hour work days to four 9-hour days or even 8-hour days, if necessary.

Donegan agreed that when it comes to the decision between losing their job or cutting back on hours, “employees appreciate it when they feel valued, and they are willing to pitch in an extra bit.” This strategy benefits both sides.

Gerry Mariacher, CDT, V.P. of Industry Relations at National Dentex, said dental professionals need to look out for one another, especially through difficult financial straits. “You reward the people who do the best jobs for you. And you can’t let them fall victim to a slow economy,” he said.

“I can almost guarantee that when you lay off a person, you’re not going to get him back,” Thayer said.

As a small-business consultant, Donegan is a firm believer in retaining talent. “What you want to do is preserve that skill set so when the economy does come back around, you can meet those growth issues that you will have at the other end of this,” she said.

McClemens believes labs that are able to retain staff will see the benefits when the economy rebounds. “If you can hold on to your technicians and work through this, you’re going to be a whole lot faster coming out of the other end than the rest of us,” he said. As lab owners know, when they are busy, management issues often take a backseat to the day-to-day technical concerns. “You’re just going to find a body to get the numbers out. And that’s not a good thing for a long-term business.”

For labs that haven’t experienced too much, if any, decrease in business with the recession, this may also be an opportune time to actually add staff. “Until six months ago, everyone was working hard. You couldn’t find a technician,” McClemens said regarding the profession’s historic labor shortage.

Donegan suggests setting up an in-lab training program for potential new-hires. “During times like these, people are willing to take a lot less salary, or they’ll be willing to work at other things,” such as a ceramist hired as a waxer or trained as a digital scan technologist or in implant restorative work, she said. “Once the good times hit again, it’s going to be a scramble for that skill set.”

There could also be a somewhat tarnished silver lining to this employers’ market. “If you have an employee who maybe isn’t cutting the mustard, and you’ve been worried about the legal ramifications about laying him off, now might be a good time to do it,” Donegan said.


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