The Curious Demise of the Dental Technician. Part 3. By Matt Everatt

THE CURIOUS DEMISE OF THE DENTAL TECHNICIAN A year on - where are we now? Part 3

By Matt Everatt F.O.T.A

In August 2021, I wrote the first article with this title following a written piece in the BDJ about the lack of support Dental Labs received during and immediately after the pandemic. In October 2021 I wrote the 2nd article and threw around some figures showing just how quickly our arm of the dental profession is in decline.

Some of the latest figures statistics highlight the majority of Dental Technicians and Lab owners are in their 50’s, with only just a handful of Educational institutions now offering Dental Technology courses, this figure is only going to get worse, as we simply aren’t training anywhere near enough students.

OVER 1000 REGISTERED TECHNICIANS LEAVE THE GDC REGISTER

In 2018, the GDC register had 6163 registered Dental Technicians, the decline year on year is staggering. 2019 dropped to 5776. The latest figures get worse, between September 2021 and 2022, the number of registered Dental Technicians dropped by another 3.19%, from 5290 to 5121 in September (GDC, 2022). This is a loss of over a 1000 GDC registered Dental Technicians.

These figures are very worrying, particularly considering we only added 141 to the register in 2021. This included just 128 UK qualified Dental Technicians and only 13 from overseas (GDC, 2021).

I suspect there may be a few Dental Technicians who had previously registered with the GDC and have let their registrations lapse and continue to work as process workers, however I cannot imagine this would be many. My own lab as an example, we haven’t had any technicians give up their registrations, even those nearing retirement age.

SIMPLY NOT ATTRACTING NEW BLOOD

I am aware that there has been a huge decline in the number of students enrolling on Dental Technology courses at colleges and University’s this year. I expect a huge part of the reason, we are still invisible to the general public and with the numbers declining as they currently are, it is no surprise. We do need to do our bit to get out to schools and promote our profession to school leavers.

I am very conscious that my article so far isn’t the cheeriest. I am not a gloomy person by nature and I do genuinely see that we have an opportunity to make our profession lots better for those already in it and for new blood joining us. The big thing I always write about, PRICES and SALARIES. The two are of course intrinsically linked, if we charge too little for our services and goods, we can only pay low salaries. If we price our goods properly, we can pay better salaries and run better, safer, more attractive businesses.

We can also learn to operate a leaner and more efficient business, after all, necessity is the mother of all invention. This doesn’t mean axing jobs, far from it. I mean you can implement good systems and procedures and bring in staff to help with some of the tasks such as admin, often picked up by any tech that can turn their hand to using a PC or accounting software. CAN WE DO ANYTHING AS A GROUP OF PROFESSIONALS?

Here is the big question, can we as a group of Dental Professionals, create enough noise to get others listening to our concerns? After all, we are a very small group on the decline. We need to come together to look at a way forward. If we cannot get our peers or professional bodies to take note and help raise our profiles, then this is something we must do ourselves. We need to get out to schools and colleges and show our Technicians of the future what a great profession we are in.

CHANGES AHEAD

Times are definitely changing; in my experience they are changing for the better. Dentists and practices seem more willing to pay a premium for quality work. On the whole, my experience is that practices appreciate a 2-way communication between Technicians and the Dentists. Patients are more aware of treatments available to them and they are actively seeking more cosmetic treatments where laboratories are involved.

I would be really keen to hear from readers about your recent experiences with trying to employ new team members. Have you struggled? Has it been easy? Do you have good links with your local college or university? Are you willing to employ newbies and train them yourself?

If you would like to drop me a message, please email me at

editor@dentaltechnician.org.uk

REFERENCES

General Dental Council. (2022). Registration reports. [online] Available at: https://www.gdc-uk.org/aboutus/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports [Accessed 20 Oct. 2022]. General Dental Council. (2021) Registration statistical report 2021. [online] Available at: https://www. gdc-uk.org/docs/default-source/annual-reports/gdc_ registration-statistical-report-2021-22-final-accessible. pdf?sfvrsn=78d3f4e_3 [Accessed 20 Oct. 2022].