Journey to the New Dimension

The resolute procession of new and advanced technologies and materials marches forward, unfolding an array of modernized manufacturing concepts on a variety of fronts. Many of these new, emerging concepts have and will continue to alter the business landscape of dental technology; others will fade as their usefulness wanes or is tested and fails. Regardless, each advance significantly transforms and disrupts how this industry approaches the fabrication of the core products it manufactures, and challenges businesses to build value into the products produced. If the past 10 years have demonstrated how quickly an industry can reinvent, the next decade will test its resilience as further developments continue to gather momentum and the option not to follow the path of innovation quickly disappears—if it is not already gone.

For the early adopters, staying abreast of new developments and making an investment was a fairly uncomplicated matter. There were few choices on the market and the business models were more straightforward. Ten years later, the landscape is lush with options, making business decisions far more critical and business models significantly more complex. And with each new advance comes the suspicion that the next innovation on the horizon will render the current technology obsolete.