My way:
“Find a mentor, having someone who trusts and believes in you is very crucial for the personal growth.”
My name is Nico Squicciarini and I am an Italian dental technician, currently living and working in Gdansk (Poland).
At the age of 13 I graduated from secondary school and decided to go to the I.P.S.I.A. L. Santarella high school for dental technicians in Bari. This meant that I had to take the bus for an hour every day from my hometown, Gravina in Puglia, to Bari and back again in the afternoon. After graduation I worked in my hometown for five years, where I was able to gain practical and theoretical experience. In the year 2015 I was frequently posting pictures of my dental work on Facebook with which I drew Sascha Hein’s attention to myself. He asked me if I would like to work as a technician in his lab and after visiting the place for a week, I decided to move in Germany. In January 2016 I started working at Sascha Hein’s and Wolfgang Christ’s laboratory in Bad Wörishofen where I was able to further improve my skills and knowledge. After living in the small spa town for two years, I felt the need to live in a bigger city and decided to go back to Italy for a while. Only two months later it was Sascha again who contacted me after he had been on a course in Poland and heard about an open position in Gdańsk. I decided to take the job, moved to Poland and I am currently working with Dr. Krzysztof Chmielewski. Over the years I attended a few courses held by Thomas Sing, Jungo Endo, Stefan Picha and Alberto Battistelli.
What is your personal vision for your dental business – what do you wish to achieve one day?
I actually don’t know yet if I’ll move and live somewhere else or if I’ll go back to my hometown one day. In case I’ll have my own laboratory in future it wont’t matter where it will be located, but it will surely be a partnership with my brother Nando because we both want to achieve the highest level in our profession. And this is very important if you want to run a high-level dental business: just surround yourself with the right people who have the same mindset and like your job as you do.
What is your way to success – how do you define it for yourself?
I always thought that hard work pays off. It doesn’t matter when, but sooner or later all the effort will be rewarded. And of course, if you work hard for the success, you will surely achieve it. My own vision of daily success is making the patients happy and feel comfortable with their new smiles because that’s our goal in general. But most of all, I think you achieve success when you are able to do something that is not that common, becoming a point of reference for other technicians, a source of inspiration for the colleagues, first of all with your works and abilities, but as well with the person you are.
What is your inspiration and motivation? What drives you forward?
One of the things which help me to move forward is the fact that I have some people who believe in me and my potential. That’s what motivates me to give my best every day. One of these people is my close friend Sascha Hein. Since the first time we met he has always mentored, helped, and guided me on the right way. And even if we don’t work together anymore, he is always there for me, without asking anything back. I owe him a lot, calling him “mentor” would be reductive. Having someone who trusts and believes in you is very crucial for the personal growth.
What is your way that made you the professional person you are today?
I luckily love this job. That’s why being a dental technician became a kind of passion for me, as well as a job. And if you have a passion, you surely try to enjoy it as much as you can. On the other hand, I’ve always been critical with my works. Even if I know that I did a good job, I try to find out what could be improved next time. So both, being passionate and critical, brings me to improve myself every day. Whenever I do something, I try to do it the best way I can.
Which part on your way to success do Creation, Creation products, Willi Geller and the Oral Design Members play?
I always had a huge admiration for Willi Geller and what he has created over the years. Obviously Oral Design is a massive movement in dentistry and most of the technicians are motivated and inspired from Oral Design members all over the world. I have met few of them during the years, and what impressed me is the will of sharing their knowledge. I’m using Creation because the ceramic powders are very reliable, and I like the huge assortment of powders which give me individual freedom to create aesthetic restorations. In the beginning it was challenging for me to understand the concept of the Creation ceramic masses, but I got a better understanding of the Willi Geller philosophy during a course with Thomas Sing. Since then, I have been able to further improve myself and get a better result.
What is your best case you are still proud of?
Actually, I don’t know if I have a best case, I think I’m still working for it. But lately I’m facing many full mouth complex cases which are making me grow a lot. Every time the challenge is different because of colour, function and shape. Especially in the last one I did, I had to manage the colour between layered zirconia crowns which were next to feldspathic veneers. Luckily at the end everything worked out well. At the moment, I prefer the analog process starting with the impressions and ending with the layering of ceramics, because it gives me more reliability.
Which recommendation/motivation you would like to give young dental technicians on their way?
To work as a dental technician is a never-ending journey. It’s not something that you can learn in five minutes, it takes time and needs patience. It doesn’t matter if you have talent or not, but to reach a good level in a handcrafted working lab, you need to practice a lot, every single day. If you don’t practice, you don’t improve your skills. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because they make you better at the end. Dental technician is also an artistic work, so just put in place your ideas and creativity, try new things with perseverance. That’s what will move you forward.
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