THE NEW ECONOMICS OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

There’s little question that tariffs have spurred price increases, but dental professionals say the effects on product development—and tech adoption—might still be far subtler than the broader economic alarms suggest.

BY JERRY MARKON

IN 1983, WHEN THE storied Harley-Davidson Motor Co. was struggling against Japanese competition, the White House stepped in with a solution that was a mite unusual for a Republican chief executive: President Ronald Reagan imposed a suite of five-year tariffs on large Japanese motorcycles—a lifeline thrown to Harley as the iconic American manufacturer barreled toward bankruptcy.

Ultimately, the Gipper’s protectionist measures were widely considered a success: Harley-Davidson asked the government to withdraw the tariffs a year early because the company, headquartered in Milwaukee since its founding in 1903, had returned to profitability.

Some maintained that the tariffs had even spurred innovation. “Harley used this time to readjust and become more competitive,” according to a 1999 Clinton Administration fact sheet prepared for that year’s World Trade Organization conference in Seattle. “It improved manufacturing efficiency and product quality, and, as a result, was able to significantly increase its market share.”

Economic vroom:
The 1984 Yamaha Virago 700 was known as the “tariff buster” for its smaller engine, built to get around President Reagan’s import levies.

Businesses Balk, but Buyers Barely Notice . . . So Far

More than four decades later, another Republican president turned to tariffs, with President Donald Trump imposing them on a wide range of products and goods. The issue was thrown into disarray in February when the Supreme Court ruled the levies illegal; at press time the air was thick with talk of rebates, economic uncertainty and potential administration work-arounds. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, tariffs have had—and will continue to have—a major impact on dental equipment at every step from conception to end user.

Will they affect innovation as Reagan’s putatively did? Dental industry officials so far offer a mixed evaluation, with some saying tariff-induced price shifts make it challenging for prac­tices to upgrade infrastructure such as computer systems. But others say tariffs have little effect on product innovation because most dental R&D already happens in the United States.

For U.S. businesses in toto, the tariff verdict seems largely negative thus far. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out against them, while a recent survey by professional services firm KPMG found that 89 percent of American CEOs predicted that Trump’s desired tariffs would significantly affect their business’s performance and operations over the next three years.

“This has been an exhausting year, I’d say, for most CEOs in the country,” Gary Shapiro, CEO and vice chair of the Consumer Technology Association, recently told Politico. “The level of executive time that’s been put in this has been enormous. So instead of focusing on innovation, they’re focusing on how they deal with the tariffs.”

Threat or False Alarm?

The American Dental Association and nine other organizations have urged Trump to exempt medical and dental supplies, equipment and devices from the tariffs as initially imposed. Among the reasons: concern that increased supply costs could make it harder for companies to foster innovation.

By last August, DOCS Education, a continuing dental education provider, was warning that tariffs of 10 percent to more than 50 percent on imported dental products were increasing costs for items such as handpieces, CAD/CAM blocks and implants.

Dr. Jay Neugarten, 56, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Manhattan, tells Incisal Edge that Trump’s levies were “certainly a topic of conversation” among dental product companies. So far, though, “I don’t know that people have changed something about innovation, how they design products” as a result.

Tim Otto, cofounder of Alcan Dental Cooperative, which operates practices in Michigan, Texas and Arizona, believes that’s the way things will stay: “Most innovation is happening in the United States, and I think innovation will be unchanged, by and large, by the tariffs.”

Born in the USA: Products like some chairs and dental units are manufactured or assembled in America by companies including A-dec and DCI.

From Policy to Practical Pressure

One industry executive who has seen effects is Rosalea Peters, vice president of strategic operations at ICON Dental Partners, a national dental partnership organization based in Washington state.

ICON has been upgrading its computer system and ordering many parts from companies that get them from overseas. Tariffs made that “challenging because the price, the supply of computer technology is in constant flux, and that makes it harder to plan,” Peters says, acknowledging that these difficulties could affect companies in any industry, and that she does not know of tariffs affecting innovation in the dental sector specifically.

Not yet, at least. It has been widely reported that companies across many industries built up inventory before Trump’s first round of tariffs early in his second term. While many were still selling pre-tariff products at the end of 2025, those stockpiles are now beginning to run thin. Meanwhile, a January report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organization, found that foreign exporters did not meaningfully reduce their prices in response to tariff increases—and that the resulting “$200 billion surge in customs revenue represents $200 billion extracted from American businesses and households.”

By the institute’s estimate, American consumers are bearing roughly 96 percent of the total tariff burden. As post-stockpiling imports move deeper into the distribution pipeline, new questions emerge: Will dental tech buyers slow or reconsider their purchases? Could reduced demand translate into lower revenue for manufacturers—and ulti­mately less capital available for R&D? The Supreme Court has spoken, but the Great Tariff Debate of 2026 seems far from over. Dental professionals—and those in every other industry—have only just begun to figure out how to make sense of, and contend with, it all.