A Lab Buyer's Playbook

Let’s be honest: the dental laboratory business is hard. It always has been. Some days it feels less like running a business and more like trying to keep your head above water. Like many industries, we’re experiencing rapid disruption: technology shifts, labor shortages, rising costs and consolidation. Some laboratories are adapting and growing; others are simply trying to stay afloat.

Simultaneously, the clinician profile is changing. Many younger clinicians are carrying significant student debt. They’re choosing DSOs or group practices. They grew up on SaaS-style pricing and the instant feedback culture of the internet. Since they can rate everything they buy—Amazon reviews, Google reviews, Uber reviews, Facebook likes and more—if you’re one star in their mind, they move on.

Today we serve very different kinds of customers all at once, including four generations of dentists—Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials...