Welcome from the editor

From the Editor

lWhat another interesting year it has been. We saw the year come in during another lockdown. The good news on the horizon was that we had a vaccine and it was about to be rolled out. Yet it would be until March at the earliest before we began to get our freedom back.

Fortunately, our labs were allowed to remain open and we were able to try and save our businesses and jobs. Sadly, the 'pingdemic' then took its toll on many businesses. Ours was a victim to this and at one point over half of our staff were isolating because their NHS app had told them to stay at home. This was crippling and almost led to a temporary closure of our lab, we managed, just!

The spring brought us all new hope. The vaccine program seemed to be flying and mostly it was well received and continues to have a high uptake. Our labs seemed to be getting busier and discussions amongst my peers was highlighting a different problem! Last year we were all wondering if our labs would be financially able to continue, in 2021 we were beginning to worry about coping with the volumes of work and not having enough staff on hand to cope with it. The 'pingdemic' was also still causing some issues, isolations essentially stealing 2 weeks of working hours from each team member and its pretty difficult to work from home when you manufacture dental devices. That said, our amazingly resourceful team managed to get through those difficult times. Some of the technicians were able to work on digital cases from home too.

Heading into summer, we seemed to be getting back on track. Travel was opening back up again and normality was on the horizon. Our family was then hit with Covid, well, myself and my oldest daughter got it whilst the rest of the family had to sit back and spend 10 days in isolation, cancelling all of our family holiday plans. Covid itself wasn’t too bad, a bit of a lingering cold. Worse followed, I was hospitalised almost 2 weeks later due to food poisoning. I’m not sure I can trust a chicken kebab every again, 4 days in hospital was not something I would like to repeat anytime soon.

Safe to say, summer was a bit of a write off from a personal point of view. However, the wheels of dentistry continued to turn and labs were getting busier and busier. We faced new challenges! Recruitment was still a huge issue! We simply could not fill vacancies fast enough. This was a common theme, I saw so many job adverts on social media and online, loads of dental laboratories were seeking new recruits and really struggling. This sparked debates about the future of dental technology and how we face a shortage of dental technicians. The issue still exists. We all seem to be finding it difficult to recruit and vacancies remain open.

As we headed into Autumn we shared some information from the Kingsholm group about the GDC and their response to questions relating to the Illegal Manufacturing of Custom Made Medical Devices. There are a number of questions still remain unanswered and discussions are ongoing. We hope to report on further developments in the coming issues in the new year.

Winter is now upon us, as I sit writing I look out over frosty fields with the most beautiful sunrise on the horizon. This pretty much sums up my thoughts of the year gone and the year ahead. We have experienced some frosty moments, what lies ahead are new horizons. I am so optimistic about our future as Dental Technicians and Dental Technology. I looked at the recent Dental Awards Ceremonies and see some amazing laboratories win awards. They are innovative and have exciting new products and services to offer. My hope for everyone is that we develop and grow together as a professional community, we raise standards in general and in turn attract more newcomers to join the profession.

I hope you have enjoyed some of the new features this year. My particular favourites still are ‘5 Things I Cannot Work Without’ and ‘A Month With My New…’. We are always wanting new writers and we really want to encourage you all to contribute to the magazine to keep it fresh and more importantly, make it YOUR magazine!

I wish you all the very best for the lead up to Christmas, no doubt this will mean we all become crazy busy. I do hope you all get to spend time with your nearest and dearest during the festivities and head into the New Year with fresh optimism and have a very prosperous 2022!

Matt Everatt F.O.T.A

Welcome to your December edition and last of 2021

Best Wishes Matt Everatt FOTA