Wages

[Contraluz]

In my area it's pretty much right on the money for experienced denture techs.

Doris, in the fixed area, it is almost impossible...

Edit: I add that there are not many techs available right now, anyway...

 

[Contraluz]

that was in 2008.

I took a 30% hit in salary in 2008...

 

[user name]

Maybe its our sparkling personalities holding us back. UPS in my area is hiring drivers. 37.50 an hour and 10 hours a week overtime. That's about 80k a year.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

I took a 30% hit in salary in 2008...

it was a tough go of things for a bit. I was one of the lucky few that still increased my wages back then

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

Maybe its our sparkling personalities holding us back. UPS in my area is hiring drivers. 37.50 an hour and 10 hours a week overtime. That's about 80k a year.

well, looks like I am moving. they have outstanding retirement too.

 

[Contraluz]

UPS in my area is hiring drivers. 37.50 an hour and 10 hours a week overtime. That's about 80k a year.

And they can make even more! Seniority and weekend work can bring them even higher...

 

[Doris A]

Doris, in the fixed area, it is almost impossible...

Edit: I add that there are not many techs available right now, anyway...

Way back in the 80's when I got in this business I had the choice to do C&B or Dentures. Everyone was getting into C&B because that's where the money was back then and I decided to go with dentures because I knew that the baby boomers were going to get old and not all of them would be able to afford C&B and there wouldn't be many experienced techs to do dentures. What I thought back then has come to fruition and now good denture techs can command a higher wage.

 

[sidesh0wb0b]

Way back in the 80's when I got in this business I had the choice to do C&B or Dentures. Everyone was getting into C&B because that's where the money was back then and I decided to go with dentures because I knew that the baby boomers were going to get old and not all of them would be able to afford C&B and there wouldn't be many experienced techs to do dentures. What I thought back then has come to fruition and now good denture techs can command a higher wage.

I would like to add to that by saying
a good tech can command better wages. don't know about everyone else but implant restorations are booming. and the pool of technicians is rapidly dwindling.
the pool of truly skills techs is dang near non existent.

 

[slotboom.f]

And that is why outsourcing skyrockets and income flows away abroad. Good techs are primarely responsible for that because if you keep the love passion and skills for yourself no one benefits.


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[sidesh0wb0b]

And that is why outsourcing skyrockets and income flows away abroad. Good techs are primarely responsible for that because if you keep the love passion and skills for yourself no one benefits.


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you could be on to something there. fewer and fewer hands on stuff by truly masters of our art....and the rest of them seem to be dropping dead left and right.

 

[David Laville]

Would anyone care to enlighten me on what kind of wages are common for a removable lab tech with 15 years experience and great skill and productivity?

Where I'm at about $8.00 an hour. I have 30 years experience in the removable field, graduate of a large dental school with a lab tech program, can do all phases of dental technology, have several certifications and all labs wanted to pay me was $8.00 - $9.00 an hour. But a technician who doesn't know squat, can't do squat, can't even produce enough work in a day to pay his salary makes around $50,000 a year. Maybe this is why the profession can't find qualified removable people.

 

[Jason D]

Where I'm at about $8.00 an hour. I have 30 years experience in the removable field, graduate of a large dental school with a lab tech program, can do all phases of dental technology, have several certifications and all labs wanted to pay me was $8.00 - $9.00 an hour. But a technician who doesn't know squat, can't do squat, can't even produce enough work in a day to pay his salary makes around $50,000 a year. Maybe this is why the profession can't find qualified removable people.

Are those typos in there? I don’t know any place in America where a qualified denture technician with more than 10 years of experience doesn’t make at least 20 bucks an hour…

 

[Doris A]

Where I'm at about $8.00 an hour. I have 30 years experience in the removable field, graduate of a large dental school with a lab tech program, can do all phases of dental technology, have several certifications and all labs wanted to pay me was $8.00 - $9.00 an hour. But a technician who doesn't know squat, can't do squat, can't even produce enough work in a day to pay his salary makes around $50,000 a year. Maybe this is why the profession can't find qualified removable people.

Have you thought about going into business for yourself?

 

[David Laville]

Are those typos in there? I don’t know any place in America where a qualified denture technician with more than 10 years of experience doesn’t make at least 20 bucks an hour…

Nope, those are real numbers. When my classmates and I was looking for jobs right out of school all the labs wanted to pay us was minimum wage while a person off the street with no experience was starting at $2 to $3 dollars above minimum wage. When we came back from Christmas break my first year of lab school one of my fellow students was cleaning out her bench telling us she was dropping out. When we asked her why she said over the break she went to some labs to see what the pay was like for lab school graduates and all they wanted to pay was minimum wage. She said she was making more money working part time to put herself through school and we better rethink this lab school thing. Of course we all thought she was mistaken and exaggerating until we graduated and discovered she was exactly right. I worked for one lab where the person who ran the denture department had been doing this for 50 years and despised the fact that after 2 years of lab school and 5 years of experience not only did I know more and could do more, I could do it better than him. He use to always bitch to the lab owners I should have been paid $2.00 an hour just to teach me a lesson (what lesson I don't know). Starting to see what the problem might be?

The lab school graduates 12 students a year. The class before mine one person is still doing it for his dad who is a dentist. In my class just two of us are doing it. In the class after mine no one is still doing it. I heard in later classes hardly anyone enrolled. This is what happens to a profession when you punish education and ability and reward ignorance.

 

[Jason D]

Oh you are talking about NO experience just lab school? Yeah lab school is a complete waste, barely know terminology....that’s why they all closed.

Better off with an eager learner from Taco Bell than a bored lab school student who thinks they know the business cuz they read the textbooks

 

[David Laville]

Have you thought about going into business for yourself?

I am and that is nothing but horror stories as well. I'm sick and tired of whenever I walk through a dentists door of getting the attitude "oh great, another crappy lab looking for business". Some take my packet and without even looking at it throw it in the trash can and walk off. If I make it past that without rejection and the dentist "might" be willing to look at samples of my work the expression on their face is "oh, I had no idea". Then it's always "nice work but we're satisfied with our lab". I know the labs that do their work and they have a reputation for crap.

Then there are the dentist who are willing to send me work and flood me for the first couple of months. Then I never receive a payment from them. After doing a little research I discover they owe all the labs in the area money, lay in wait for labs like mine who they have never done work with before to start sending work with no intentions of paying and have a history of being sued by labs for non payment.

I do have accounts and do make a living but it can be much better.

 

[Jason D]

I am and that is nothing but horror stories as well. I'm sick and tired of whenever I walk through a dentists door of getting the attitude "oh great, another crappy lab looking for business". Some take my packet and without even looking at it throw it in the trash can and walk off. If I make it past that without rejection and the dentist "might" be willing to look at samples of my work the expression on their face is "oh, I had no idea". Then it's always "nice work but we're satisfied with our lab". I know the labs that do their work and they have a reputation for crap.

Then there are the dentist who are willing to send me work and flood me for the first couple of months. Then I never receive a payment from them. After doing a little research I discover they owe all the labs in the area money, lay in wait for labs like mine who they have never done work with before to start sending work with no intentions of paying and have a history of being sued by labs for non payment.

I do have accounts and do make a living but it can be much better.

Now you are talking about learning to run a business...and there are ton of threads here on that subject....best advice is to decide whether you want this to be a hobby or a real business.

If you want it to be a real business then you have to work AT LEAST as hard at learning business as you did learning to be a technician. Read the e-myth first, then “in business for yourself” then “starting your own business” write a real business plan with metrics and strategy and growth and profit plans.

If you are burned out and frustrated by the rejection and bad behavior of clients already then you should RUN don’t walk to another role...a good tech or manager can make more than a bad small business owner.

 

[David Laville]

Oh you are talking about NO experience just lab school? Yeah lab school is a complete waste, barely know terminology....that’s why they all closed.

Better off with an eager learner from Taco Bell than a bored lab school student who thinks they know the business cuz they read the textbooks

No, I'm talking about no experience and no lab school education. FYI, I'm a graduate of LSU School of Dentistry. It's only one of a few lab schools where the lab students learn on real cases and you have to have at least 2 years of regular college before they'll accept you. Each lab student is assigned 8-10 dental students and does all of their lab work from crowns to cast partials and dentures to orthodontics. We're not taught on "ideal" models and have more than "textbook" knowledge.

Sorry you consider lab schools a waste. The NBC disagrees, they allow us to take the CDL test two years after graduation where as those with nothing more than on the job training have to wait 5 years. See folks, this is why you can't find experienced removable techs or lab techs for that matter. Why would someone with a lab school background want to work in a profession where they're discriminated against and someone from Taco Bell is more preferred?

.....BTW, could you please explain your double standard? Why do you call labs schools a waste because students barely know terminology and have "textbook" knowledge but think more highly of a Taco Bell employee who doesn't know any terminology nor has any textbook knowledge?

I'm guessing your highest level of education is high school, have nothing more than on the job training and fear you're going to be replaced by someone smarter and better so you prefer a Taco Bell worker because you can control what they know and can do.

 

[David Laville]

Now you are talking about learning to run a business...and there are ton of threads here on that subject....best advice is to decide whether you want this to be a hobby or a real business.

If you want it to be a real business then you have to work AT LEAST as hard at learning business as you did learning to be a technician. Read the e-myth first, then “in business for yourself” then “starting your own business” write a real business plan with metrics and strategy and growth and profit plans.

If you are burned out and frustrated by the rejection and bad behavior of clients already then you should RUN don’t walk to another role...a good tech or manager can make more than a bad small business owner.

Thanks, but I prefer to take my business advice from someone who favors a college educated person over a Taco Bell worker. Labs hire Taco Bell workers if their goal is to be a Taco Bell dental lab.

 

[Jason D]

[/QUOTE]

No, I'm talking about no experience and no lab school education. FYI, I'm a graduate of LSU School of Dentistry. It's only one of a few lab schools where the lab students learn on real cases and you have to have at least 2 years of regular college before they'll accept you. Each lab student is assigned 8-10 dental students and does all of their lab work from crowns to cast partials and dentures to orthodontics. We're not taught on "ideal" models and have more than "textbook" knowledge.

Sorry you consider lab schools a waste. The NBC disagrees, they allow us to take the CDL test two years after graduation where as those with nothing more than on the job training have to wait 5 years. See folks, this is why you can't find experienced removable techs or lab techs for that matter. Why would someone with a lab school background want to work in a profession where they're discriminated against and someone from Taco Bell is more preferred?

.....BTW, could you please explain your double standard? Why do you call labs schools a waste because students barely know terminology and have "textbook" knowledge but think more highly of a Taco Bell employee who doesn't know any terminology nor has any textbook knowledge?

I'm guessing your highest level of education is high school, have nothing more than on the job training and fear you're going to be replaced by someone smarter and better so you prefer a Taco Bell worker because you can control what they know and can do.

Relax David, don't assume its a personal attack, because it wasn't.
If you will take the time to read what I wrote: I said an "EAGER LEARNER" from taco bell vs a "bored" school grad. Don't you think there is a difference? not a double standard at all.

the lab schools all closed because they did a piss poor job of educating. they did not produce valuable additions to the workforce, they produced mediocre kids who thought they knew everything.

its not discrimination, its the difference between someone who 'wants to prove themselves' vs someone who 'thinks they have already proven themselves'.

Don't bank on the NBC as a credentialing organization any more then you should the NADL as an advocacy group...under their watch our profession has been downgraded to "unskilled labor" as a jobs classification by the federal govt, so what exactly is that credentialing worth? It's only value is that states with stricter regulation require it for owning a lab. (and I'm not throwing stones here, I AM a CDT, and I know its not worth much.)

So I'll educate you a little:
I have hired lab school grads, 7 of them. Only 1 was worth it and still works for me today. The others went on to other labs and most left the field because they had no passion for it and did not realize how hard it would be in the 'real world'.

As for me, well, lol.

I have over 35 years as a tech, 15 as a manager, 4 as an owner, and about 300 credits of college. I've also been to just about every continuing education program there is, from lee culp to Matt Roberts to Jack turbyfill to Carl Misch. When i was a full time technician my ceramics work was billed out at 400-500 a unit and my dentures were closer to 600. I also used to be the Executive Director of Operations at your old company before it went to the dogs lol. I consult with Investment companies and venture capital about the lab industry, and help other lab owners improve their operations and business acumen. I am hardly intimidated by a skilled, knowledgeble and talented younger person. in fact, I scour the land for them so I can add them to my organization, grow them and empower them and pay them well.