No one really knows what’s coming just around the corner tomorrow—let alone throughout the next 12 months—but proceeding without even a general concept of what might be on the way can be just as risky.
Thinking about the future can be a useful exercise for a dental lab, or any other business. It can help when setting goals, planning for contingencies or even just enjoying a daydream about a pie in the sky, best case scenario. It starts with taking stock of the current situation, but from there it’s all about examining possibilities and deciding which course seems the most likely to be the correct path.
To help along that journey, we’ve talked to industry analysts, manufacturers, opinion leaders and lab technicians who shared what they think might be the big trends in technology, business plans and the overall dental lab industry throughout 2012. Read on to discover their thoughts on which categories are poised to grow, what’s on the CAD/CAM horizon, business models on the rise and the biggest challenges facing individual labs and the industry as a whole.
The year in trends
Global growth predictions
It should come as no surprise that industry analysis from business intelligence firm GlobalData predicts implants to be one of the largest categories for growth in the coming year. Dental Equipment Analyst Vishwajit Gaikwad said expanded marketing of implants to dental consumers will be driving this growth. He said the $900 million U.S. implant market is likely to grow by approximately 4% over the next three years.
But while talking with lab owners and technicians yields anecdotal evidence of growth in the removables arena, Gaikwad said GlobalData’s research and analysis shows greater potential for growth in the crown and bridge market which will grow an expected 6% in the next three years spurred by the continued spread of cost-efficient zirconia materials and expanded CAD/CAM fabrication.
The technology powering those efficiencies is also an area GlobalData believes will experience growth in the near term. Sales of CAD/CAM technologies are expected to grow by 7% during the coming three years, with adoption by mid- to large-sized labs powering this growth because they are in the best position to purchase new technologies, Gaikwad said.
“Affordability of CAD/CAM systems will be the chief criterion for their adoption,” he added.
If expansion of CAD/CAM technologies continues at its expected rate of growth, Gaikwad said it will be powering the creation of a majority of crown and bridge restorations by 2015. That milestone would be quite remarkable as Gaikwad cited data published by Lab Management Today showing just 4% of crowns and bridges were fabricated via CAD/CAM in 2003 and that number had risen to 18% in 2010.
But while the predicted growth in these categories for the U.S. is decent, Gaikwad said GlobalData’s research expects the rate of growth globally to be even more significant with double-digit growth percentages expected across the board, highlighted by an expected 9.6% growth in the European implant market and 15.5% in the Asia-Pacific implant market over the next three years.
Tapping into the expected growth
While those macro-predictions can provide a general overview of the direction the dental lab industry is headed, for most labs it still comes down to providing high quality restorations at a fair price. The growth of CAD/CAM and the lower costs it offers to larger scale operations can make things more difficult for smaller operators to stay competitive.
However, that doesn’t mean small labs don’t have a way to stay up to date and capture some of the growth whether via outsourcing production to milling or printing partners or finding cost effective ways to add CAD/CAM in house. Dr. Mark Murphy, head of clinical education at MicroDental/DTI, said finding a production partner could be the move that keeps small labs afloat in 2012.
“Smart small to medium labs will have to adjust to this by saying ‘I can’t afford to digitize my processes so I’m going to have outsource more and more,’ ” he said. “Those who don’t adapt will be some of the numbers in 2012 who end up closing up shop.”
Outsourcing has established its place in the industry, and BEGO USA VP/General Manager William Oremus said he expects more and more labs will be using services such as his company’s BEGO Production Center—which offers the cost effective fabrication of non-precious metal copings via Selective Laser Technology—to eliminate the most time consuming and technique sensitive workflow steps.
While continued growth of outsourcing is a trend Oremus expects to see in 2012, he doesn’t see the availability of CAD/CAM copings to eliminate casting any time soon and he hopes labs making use of these services find ways to turn efficiencies into growth rather than shrinking the business to stay competitive.
“Hopefully no jobs will be lost, but it will just be a transfer of responsibilities where these people will go into new departments in the laboratory,” he said.
The other area where labs of all sizes are tapping into the efficiencies CAD/CAM offers are monolithic restorations. The influx of monolithic zirconia materials that started in late 2010 will continue in 2012 with the launch of materials from DENTSPLY Prosthetics and 3M ESPE among other companies. But while monolithic crowns can be produced rapidly via digital technologies, Steven Pigliacelli, CDT, VP at Marotta Dental Studio in Farmingdale, N.Y., hopes those materials and his preferred monolithic option, Ivoclar Vivadent’s e.max, are not used to cut corners when it comes to quality and esthetics.
“With the right technicians doing it, you can make a wonderful product,” he said. “It’s a great concept, but I don’t see why the answer is always let’s make it cheaper and make it quicker.”
Information age
But regardless of the route a lab takes to make workflows more efficient, it’s important for labs to understand what sets them apart and make sure those differences are highlighted to their customers. Digital technologies and outsourced production even the playing field in many ways, so labs need to set themselves up as an informational resource to their practices, Oremus said. In 2012 and beyond, the labs with the ability to leverage their knowledge and expertise as clinical resources are going to thrive.
“That is going to be so important in the future, especially in removables. The lack of education on both sides of the fence in removables is really there today, and the technician that can be the value add and take the doctor through the case will have an edge in securing that doctor’s business,” he said.
Unfortunately Pigliacelli believes one of the biggest trends for 2012 will be the continued loss of benchtop knowledge throughout the industry. With an aging technician population, shrinking educational opportunities and expanding automation increasing pressure from competition the core knowledge required to create high quality dental restorations is becoming an ever rarer commodity.
Pigliacelli said he thinks the dental lab industry is heading for a disaster where dentists who have never been taught about lab processes are working with technicians who are trained only on digital design and production. That might work fine for simple cases, but it’s the complex cases that can really change patients’ lives but only when these restorations are designed and fabricated properly, and that requires more educational opportunities for technicians.
This is something Pigliacelli is working on locally with the hopes of convincing Stoney Brook University to open a dental technology school. Others in the industry such as the Foundation for Dental Laboratory Technology also plan to use 2012 to raise awareness of the gaps in education and work to expand upon the limited training opportunities for new technicians. However, this is one challenge that will still be facing the industry when 2013 arrives.
“My goal is to train a new generation, but we’re just starting and they’re not going to be ready for another 4 to 6 years,” Pigliacelli said. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
