Out of 120 surveys sent, 74 technicians responded, resulting in a response rate of 61.6%. A summary of the responses is provided in Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 and Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Because implant treatment (implant prostheses) requires a significant amount of specialized, high-precision laboratory procedures, this area of dental care exhibits slightly different trends than prosthetic treatment as it was practiced in the past, and this work is concentrated at specialized fabrication labs. Moreover, there are many cases in which dental technicians take initiative with regard to the design of implant prostheses, and to a certain extent, this area of care is one in which dentists do not necessarily play the leading role. In light of these circumstances, it was intended for this questionnaire to verify trends in implant treatment from a different perspective than has been used in the past, by investigating the current state of practice in the field from the dental technician perspective. By evaluating implant treatment from the standpoint of dental technology/prosthodontics and identifying current trends and problem areas, it was expected to gain information that enables highly predictable implant treatment.

Conditions characterizing implant laboratories (Table 1)

The dental technicians who responded to this questionnaire have an average of about 17 years of experience in the field, indicating that they possess an adequate level of fabrication experience. In light of the reality that dental implant treatment is a comparatively new field, these personnel can be proficient with digital techniques as they differ from past generations of technicians who practiced the craft. On average, each dental technician serves about 36.5 customers, although that number varies depending on the scale of the fabrication lab at which they work. While implant laboratory work consists of complex processes, the fees are high, and labs generate a stable flow of revenue given a constant stream of work requests (Q1).