For dental and orthodontic practices, the quality of their lab partners and the products they use is fundamental to achieving excellent patient outcomes. Great Lakes Dental Technologies has long been a recognized name in the industry, known for its comprehensive range of products, appliances, and educational resources. As practices evolve with digital workflows and new materials in 2025, it’s essential to evaluate how established partners like Great Lakes are keeping pace. This deep dive will explore the company’s offerings, from its well-known lab services to its extensive product catalog. We will analyze the pros and cons for a modern practice, helping you determine the value Great Lakes brings to the table.
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What is Great Lakes Dental Technologies?
Great Lakes Dental Technologies, formerly known as Great Lakes Orthodontics, is a multifaceted company serving the dental and orthodontic communities. It functions as both a commercial dental laboratory and an employee-owned product manufacturer and distributor. Based in Tonawanda, New York, the company has built a reputation over several decades for producing high-quality, custom orthodontic appliances.
Beyond its lab services, Great Lakes is a one-stop shop for a vast array of dental supplies and equipment. This dual identity is a key feature of its business model. A practice can order custom-made retainers from the lab while also purchasing the acrylics, wires, and thermoforming materials needed for in-office fabrication. This comprehensive approach aims to be a complete resource for orthodontists, general dentists, and pediatric dental specialists.
Core Offerings for the Modern Practice
Great Lakes has organized its business into distinct but interconnected divisions. Understanding these pillars is crucial to appreciating the company’s full value proposition for a dental practice in 2025.
Orthodontic Laboratory Services
The laboratory is the historic heart of Great Lakes. The lab specializes in the fabrication of custom removable and fixed orthodontic appliances. This includes a wide variety of devices:
- Retainers: Hawley retainers, clear Essix-style retainers, and fixed lingual retainers.
- Functional Appliances: Twin Block, Herbst, and MARA appliances designed to guide jaw growth.
- Expansion Appliances: Palatal expanders used to correct crossbites and crowding.
- Sleep and TMD Appliances: Custom-fit devices to manage sleep apnea, snoring, and temporomandibular joint disorders.
A significant advantage is the lab’s ability to work from both physical impressions and modern digital scans (STL files), ensuring they can integrate with a practice’s chosen workflow.
Product and Supply Distribution
The product division of Great Lakes offers an extensive catalog of materials and equipment essential for daily practice. This makes it a convenient supplier for clinics that handle some of their own appliance fabrication or adjustments. Key product categories include:
- Thermoforming Materials: A wide selection of plastic discs and sheets, such as the popular Essix brand plastics, used for making clear aligners, retainers, and bleaching trays in-house.
- Acrylics and Wires: Materials for creating and repairing traditional Hawley retainers and other acrylic-based appliances.
- Dental Equipment: The company distributes everything from small hand tools and welders to larger equipment like vacuum-forming machines and 3D printers. This allows them to support both analog and digital workflows.
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Continuing Education and Training
A lesser-known but highly valuable aspect of Great Lakes is its commitment to education. The company offers hands-on courses, seminars, and webinars for dental professionals. These courses often focus on appliance fabrication techniques, new material applications, and practice management. By providing training, Great Lakes empowers practices to bring more lab work in-house, giving them greater control over turnaround times and costs. This educational component adds a layer of partnership that goes beyond simple transactions.
Evaluating Great Lakes: Pros and Cons for 2025
When choosing a lab and supplier, practices must weigh the benefits against any potential drawbacks. Here is a balanced look at partnering with Great Lakes Dental Technologies.
The Upside: Key Advantages
- One-Stop-Shop Convenience: The ability to order custom lab appliances and all the supplies needed for in-office work from a single source is a major efficiency booster. It simplifies ordering, streamlines inventory management, and consolidates vendor relationships.
- Reputation for Quality: Great Lakes has a long-standing reputation for producing durable and well-fitting appliances. This reliability is crucial for minimizing chair-side adjustment time and ensuring patient satisfaction.
- Employee-Owned Structure: As an employee-owned company, there is a perception and often a reality of greater personal investment in quality and customer service from the staff. They have a direct stake in the company’s success.
- Support for Digital Workflows: The lab’s acceptance of digital scans and its distribution of 3D printing technology show a commitment to staying current with industry trends, making them a relevant partner for modern, digitized practices.
Potential Downsides and Considerations
- Turnaround Times: Like any large commercial lab, turnaround times for custom appliances can sometimes be longer than what a smaller, local lab might offer. Practices need to plan their patient scheduling accordingly.
- Cost Structure: While quality is high, Great Lakes may not be the cheapest option on the market. Practices must balance the cost of their lab bills against the value of reliability and reduced remake rates.
- Breadth vs. Specialization: By offering such a vast catalog, it’s possible that they may not be the absolute leading expert in every single niche product category compared to a company that specializes in only one area (e.g., only 3D printing resins).
- Not a Full-Service Dental Lab: The lab’s primary focus is on orthodontic and removable appliances. Practices looking for a single lab to also handle complex crown and bridge or cosmetic ceramic work will need to partner with another provider for those services.
Conclusion
Great Lakes Dental Technologies remains a formidable and reliable partner for orthodontic and dental practices in 2025. Its unique combination of high-quality laboratory services and a comprehensive product catalog provides unmatched convenience. The company’s commitment to quality, backed by an employee-owned culture, ensures that practices receive dependable products and appliances. While considerations around cost and turnaround time are valid, the overall value proposition is strong, especially for clinics that value efficiency and a one-stop-shop relationship. The integration of digital workflows further solidifies its place as a relevant and forward-thinking industry player.
For any practice looking to streamline its supply chain or find a dependable lab for orthodontic and removable appliances, exploring a partnership with Great Lakes is a prudent decision.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the difference between Great Lakes Dental Technologies and Great Lakes Orthodontics?
They are the same company. The name was changed from Great Lakes Orthodontics to Great Lakes Dental Technologies to better reflect its broader range of products and services beyond just orthodontics.
2. Does Great Lakes Dental Technologies sell 3D printers?
Yes, the company is a distributor for several brands of 3D printers, resins, and related software suitable for dental and orthodontic practices.
3. What is Essix plastic used for?
Essix is a brand of thermoforming plastic, owned by Dentsply Sirona and distributed by Great Lakes, that is widely used to fabricate clear retainers, aligners, and whitening trays.
4. Can I send digital scans to the Great Lakes lab?
Yes, the Great Lakes laboratory is fully equipped to accept digital impressions and STL files from all major intraoral scanners for the fabrication of custom appliances.
5. Is Great Lakes Dental Technologies an employee-owned company?
Yes, Great Lakes is 100% employee-owned, which means its employees are also stakeholders in the company’s success.
