From the Editor

Matt Everatt F.O.T.A

l Welcome to your December and final edition of 2022. I do hope you have all enjoyed the Magazine this year. We have been striving to provide interesting and relevant content and would like to thank all of you who have written articles, provided technical pieces and of course our advertisers for whom we would not be able to produce the magazine each month.

I genuinely cannot believe we are here again, another year end! I do see lots of promising developments and I strongly feel we as Dental Technicians are in demand and the realisation of dentists having to pay a sensible amount for custom made appliances is becoming a reality.

There has been lots of talk recently about prices of certain items made by labs and it appears many of us are charging very little for certain devices such as partial dentures provided to the NHS. It was suggested we could try to publish some recommended minimum prices for lab cases. I do feel this would be a great move forward for us a profession. For many years, we have kept our prices and fees close to our chests and many of us have been unwilling to speak out about prices. I have been outspoken about the negative effects of labs providing an ‘NHS Service’ when indeed the NHS do not hold any type of contract with labs and it was clear when we all went into lockdown, the NHS were not going to offer any support to those laboratories that had supported NHS Dental Practices for many years. With the mass exodus of Dental Practices leaving the NHS contracts behind and providing only a ‘Private Service’ for their patients, I would suggest there has never been a better time to look at your pricing and start charging properly for your skill and expertise.

A CALL FOR NEW WRITERS

The Dental Technician Magazine is the original magazine for our profession, dating back to the 1940’s. We are so proud to have so many great people on our Editorial Board and we are always keen to encourage new writers to join us. Being a writer or being on the editorial board isn’t daunting, it isn’t onerous. It is as much about encouraging others to provide content as it is providing something written yourself. You may have a new material or technique that you would like to share with fellow techs, or you might have had a rep from a company who you can encourage to write about a new material or piece of equipment.

If you think you can help or would like to be considered for a spot on the Editorial Board, please drop me an email to

editor@dentaltechnician.org.uk WELCOME 2023

It goes without saying really, I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for continuing reading our magazine and from all of us at The Dental Technician Magazine, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a truly wonderful and prosperous New Year. See you all in 2023