Art should definitely be a part of STEM; in fact cut Engineering out

I use the term “stem.” But, I work in dental labs. I manage around 60 labs.

Do you know what a dental lab is? It’s an art studio. That’s literally what they are. The dentist sends the devices to us, and we either use a physical impression, or we 3d print models.

And then the technician crafts, paints, sculpts, and carves the teeth. Then paints them, polishes them, bakes them.

A dental lab tech is someone with art skills who went to technical school to apply their skills towards a specific thing - this is not unlike a tattoo artist starting off with drawing skills, then doing an apprenticeship to learn the technical skill of tattooing.

Every time you receive a denture, a crown, a night guard… that is someone’s artwork. It wasn’t just spit out of a machine. Someone made that shit by hand.

The tech works with the doctors. The doctor is the scientist, the tech is the artist. There’s lots of back and forth between them. The Dr doesn’t just order the device. The doctor orders the product and has lots of back and forth communication with the tech. The tech will know when something can’t be done, what materials can’t be used, they’ll communicate with the doctor what will give better retention, what materials will be sturdier, what will be more aesthetic.

This is art and science putting their heads together so people can talk, smile, bite, and chew their food. People will always need teeth.

So you can say art has nothing to do with science all you want, but you’d have to explain that to every lab tech I deal with.

/r/unpopularopinion Thread Parent