The ever faster progressing digitization and the associated exponential growth in technological developments in the dental industry require high investments at ever shorter intervals. A vivid example of this thesis is CAD/CAM-supported production. With the advent of digitization in dental technology, only investments in scanners and software were initially required, but today it is necessary to invest in a 360° workflow.

The holistic, integrated digital workflow, which also includes digital transmission of patient data, means that physical proximity to the client is no longer absolutely necessary. Due to the mergers of dental laboratories, which are made possible, there is a concentration in the metropolitan areas.

While the majority of experienced dental technicians will reach retirement age in the next few years, fewer and fewer trainees want to learn the profession of dental technician. In the last 20 years, the number of trainees in dental technology has fallen by a third.

One reason for this is definitely demographic change. According to the Association of German Dental Technicians Guilds (VDZI), another is the low salary. Because the average salary of dental technicians is around 28% below the average for other skilled trades. This difference is due, among other things, to statutory price interventions and other framework conditions in the industry. Large laboratories, laboratory groups and laboratory chains have the opportunity to better pay specialists by using modern technology and the associated relief for employees. Last but not least, because unskilled workers can take on unskilled work.

Practice laboratories not only compete with commercial dental laboratories for orders from practitioners and patients, but also when it comes to recruiting specialists. Practice laboratories and commercial dental laboratories offer on the same job market and are therefore fighting for the same specialists. In order to remain competitive in the employer environment, more and more commercial laboratories are merging, because well-known employers are more attractive and larger laboratory structures can also offer a better work-life balance. This increases the chances of employee loyalty to the company.

In the next few years many laboratory owners will have reached retirement age and are looking for successors. There are hardly any successors on the market who take over a small master dental laboratory. On the other hand, the possibility of being taken over by a laboratory chain or joining a laboratory group is much more realistic.

Market consolidation is not only an issue among dental laboratories, but also in the field of dental care, i.e. among those treating people, who are increasingly joining together to form dental care centers.

These mergers result in a bundling of demand on the market, which small commercial dental laboratories can often no longer serve due to high capacity utilization or overloading, making consolidation into laboratory chains necessary.

The capacity to serve high demand gives large labs and lab groups further competitive advantages over smaller master labs. This results in high purchase quantities of certain products and materials and through this also purchasing advantages, which are reflected in a higher profit margin or in the possibility of offering them at a lower price.