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Author
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Topic: Death of a Profession
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Pimji
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 228
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posted 12 July 2001 09:15 PM
I found this letter in the office where I work as a dental technician. The situation that this laboratory owner (president) outlines is a very accurate account of what is happening to the dental technology proffesion. The letter was sent by a lab that produces the highest quality dental devices in Canada.
This situation cannot be blamed on unionism being that there are no unionized dental laboratories in Canada.
The lab I work at can't even hire delivery drivers due to the low wages. The people we end up hiring as trainees are people who have limited literacy skills and are just taking on a job in the lab as a second job. The letter reads: May 31,2001 Dear Doctor: Our association has taken the liberty of forwarding to you the new and revised suggested fee schedule. I am writing to you, to express my support of this guide, but more importantly to explain to you, the current conditions in the dental laboratory field, which contributed to the publication of the fee guide and the inevitable in the increase in the fees for our products. Qualified, experienced Dental Technicians are in very short supply. Their number is diminishing, and based on an economic axiom of supply and demand, their remuneration has increased dramatically. The natural replacement of these professionals is not taking place. Talented young people shun this profession and show no interest in choosing Dental technology as their chosen field. In the province of Ontario, a College of Dental Technology graduate, after three years of study, can expect no more than slightly higher than minimum wage as a starting salary. Dental Technicians with twenty years experience can anticipate less than fifty thousand dollars per year. This is not conducive to entering the Dental Technology field and will create problems that will effect both our professions. Unless we can increase the number of qualified people interested in Dental Technology as a career, the quality of our restorations will decrease to a point where they could create a potential dental health problem. The fee guide is the product of an in-depth time and motion study and reflects the cost of creating the quality restorations we have been providing to you in the past. Your acceptance of this fee guide will give us the opportunity to pay reasonable wages to our present and more important, to our future employees. xxxxxxx laboratory
xxxxxx xxxxx
President
I blacked out the name of the lab and it's president save any legal hassles. If my employer found out I posted this on a place like this, I doubt they would be all that pleased, however due to the shortage of skilled technicians and the amount of abuse I can tolerate I'm sure all would be quickly forgotten.
[ July 12, 2001: Message edited by: Pimji ]
From: South of Ottawa | Registered: Apr 2001
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Pimji
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 228
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posted 14 July 2001 12:39 AM
Yes, this letter is a mail out from a dental laboratory to all its clients. It's not from the lab I work at but the situation is similar. I'm not sure where workers are choosing to go or what fields young people are taking on but it sure isn't dental technology. I wouldn't be surprised if pizza delivery drivers make more than dental lab delivery drivers earn.
All dentists send out any work that cannot be done at the chair side. Crowns, bridges, dentures, partials, cast metal framework, retainers, and any other orthodontic devices. Dentists are private business owners as well as the laboratories that manufacture the items I listed above. The fee schedules are set by the dental associations in each province to set guidelines as price per procedure. Laboratories have their own associations as well. The large association in the US compiles the stats to determine how to set prices. For example, a crown takes 1 hour to produce and uses so much space tools equipment as well labour costs and profit.
Most labs use the piecework system to pay the technicians. Pay per unit produced. It's the old assembly line created by Fredrick Winslow Taylor. Lean production. Fast paced, repetitive and tedious. Remakes come directly off the workers pay if the device fails due to imperfections. These can start in the dentists office ;bad impressions, poor inaccurate plaster casts, poorly written prescriptions, appliances that are mis-prescribed, or any other myriad of problems.
Anyone ever heard of a dentist not earning enough money? We actually have a list of them on COD or ones we don't deal with because of bankruptcy as well as unpaid and overdue accounts. Generally most dentists turn a very handsome profit and do very well provided they are also good business managers as well.
Despite the lack of a living wage (WalMart pays more), in relation to the working conditions, for people entering into this field, most dentists will still continue to opt for the lowest priced lab.
In 1990 the lab fee for a standard single unit porcelain fused to metal crown was $120.00 Today the standard lab fee is $320.00. In 1990 the starting wage for a lab trainee was $7.50 per hour. Today it is $8.00 per hour. I started at $8.00 per hour in 1992. I got the extra .50 cents because I had previous experience. At the first lab I worked at in 1989 I worked for free for the first 2 months just to get some experience. I was on welfare at the time. I was the promoted to a high salary of $5.00 per hour. 2 months after that I quit. Today my income is above average but the pace of the work is unsustainable in relation to my income.
I'm tempted to explain the snoring appliance racket next.[ July 14, 2001: Message edited by: Pimji ]
From: South of Ottawa | Registered: Apr 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 16 July 2001 11:21 AM
Lex wrote: quote:
The human costs supporting profit-maximization are unacceptable, IMHO.
Well, can we hope that at some point (soon?), if younger workers refuse to train for what they perceive as more and more devalued work, that consumers will begin to protest too? At the shortages, and at the crummy quality? [ July 16, 2001: Message edited by: skdadl ]
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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LEX
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 61
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posted 16 July 2001 02:17 PM
skdadl: That was a trick question!  Drconway That was a trick answer!  The issue seems to be: "The devaluation of work: causes and possible remedies." Perhaps consumers (in this market-driven society) may and do protest --- but it ain't easy to do so and unless highly organized, seems ineffective. On the other hand, if and when consumers become more actively aware of their identity as CITIZENS as opposed to passively being exploited as CONSUMERS, then perhaps work will be more appropriately recognized --- and valued. I think it's a question of attitude... Somewhere along the line, someone suggested an inextricable link between labor values and commodity prices. What is the link when the "commodities" involved are services? How are service values effected by evolving technologies? I think it's a question of context and application.... But then, I've beeen professionally dead for almost a decade! 
From: Toronto On | Registered: Apr 2001
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