Fees Flat, but Outlook Brightening for Majority of Labs

Despite the fact that overall laboratory fees show no growth over the last two years, the majority of owners and managers say business has improved since 2016 and they are increasingly hopeful about the next several years, according to LMT’s 2018 Fee Survey. Sixty-one percent of respondents say their businesses are healthier now than they were two years ago and the percentage who say they’re optimistic about the future rose 12 points in the same timeframe: from 45% to 57%.

An improving economy is one reason behind the more positive outlooks; respondents say their dentist-clients are seeing more elective procedures and workloads are steadier or even growing. “My implant business has really picked up; my caseload from my existing clients has actually doubled,” says Ted Shearer, Owner, TRS Dental Technologies, Pleasant Hill, CA. “There’s more confidence in the economy and that leads to a change in patients’...