STORIES OF SUCCESS

My name is Alfonso Blanco. I was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where I still live. The love of the profession of dental technician already began in my early childhood. During my schooldays I could hardly wait for the summer holidays because I was allowed to go with my father to his laboratory – one of the best times in my life. Already from an early age I was impressed by the combination of craftsmanship and technology. For me, there is not a single step in the whole manufacturing process of dentures which I don’t find fascinating.

Although I was passionate about dental technology, I decided to continue the family tradition, started studying dentistry at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo in 2005 and became a dentist.

During my time at university I realised that that clinical work was not my vocation. I was missing the handicraft in the dental laboratory and after finishing my last course at university in 2011, I applied for an employment in a laboratory. Since then I have been working as dental technician.

What made you the professional person you are today?

My daily work is the combination of digital technologies and craftsmanship, e.g. the veneering of restorations. You hardly find such a complexity in other professions. Today’s demands of a dental technician comprise digital know-how and handicraft as well, both proficiencies are absolutely necessary to manually create lifelike shapes and in the veneering technique. And both areas support and complement each other for creating contemporary and aesthetic high-end restorations.

After improving my skills as a dental technician for several years under my father’s mentorship, I was certified as a trainer by Vita Zahnfabrik in 2016.

In 2017 I was invited by the company Amann Girrbach to a digital training at the company’s headquarters in Austria. The course instructor, Knut Miller, demonstrated the veneering of frames with Creation ceramics. I was immediately impressed by the beauty of the ceramics and fascinated by the natural result achieved by combining the chromatic dentine with the highly translucent transpa and incisal porcelains.

Unfortunately, there was no dental dealer of Creation Ceramics in Uruguay at that time. A friend, Maximiliano Gonzalez Zimmerman, helped me organize some porcelains for my lab. From then on, I didn’t want to veneer with any other ceramic. This even went so far that I travelled to my neighbouring country Argentina to get a supply of Creation ceramics.

What is your inspiration and motivation? What drives you forward?

Since 2019 I’m a member of the SPACE family, the Amann Girrbach Key Opinion Leader Group and I lead the CYRO | LAB team. It is my aim to combine the complete available high technology with craftsmanship in our daily work to unite the best of the two worlds.

I never saw myself as an especially talented dental technician but I’m persistent and try everything until I reach my goal. As a ceramist it is my goal to understand and imitate nature. Studying natural teeth is one way, but seeing how other dental technicians work has always been a great source of inspiration for me. Books are one of my other passions. I’m always looking for new books and my collection of dental literature is one of my most valuable treasures.

What does success mean to you – what is your definition?

For me, success is finding something that motivates me, fulfils me and awakens my passion. When something like this has been found and I can do what makes me happy, then I’ve achieved a lot. And the profession of dental technician meets all these criteria. This joy of my job also motivates me to work hard, to constantly learn to become better and better. Despite all the ups and downs, doing things better and learning constantly is my motivation and what success means to me.

Which recommendation would you give young dental technicians?

Sometimes our job can be hard, every day we try to copy something as unique as nature. It takes a lot of time and effort, hard work and resilience to cope with the failures. So the best piece of advice I can share with you is to enjoy the way to success: every new case is a chance to do it even better!