About Great Lakes

Great Lakes Dental Technologies is an employee-owned company, with 225 employee-owners who design, develop, manufacture, and market appliances and products for use in the orthodontic, dental, and sleep and airway markets.

Great Lakes is one of North America's largest orthodontic laboratories and offers more than 4,000 products and services. Training and education on the latest appliance fabrication techniques and equipment is offered at the onsite training center in the company's headquarters; located in a modern 78,000 square-foot building in Tonawanda, New York, a suburb of Buffalo.

Our Vision

  • Delight our customers
  • Respect and help our co-workers

Our History

Peter R. Breads, a dental lab technician, opened a small orthodontic laboratory in 1965 in Buffalo, New York, which produced appliances and study models for local orthodontists. One of Peter Breads' first customers was Dr. Carl F. Gugino, who was instrumental in helping launch the business. In 1967, the company changed its name to Great Lakes Orthodontic Laboratory, Inc., and expanded laboratory services to accommodate orders from all over the country.

Less than four years later, a products division was founded. Great Lakes Orthodontic Products, Inc. quickly established itself as a leading supplier of high quality materials and supplies, and at the same time, broadened the service area to include the international market. In 1985, the two companies merged into Great Lakes Orthodontics, Ltd.

Great Lakes TradeshowGreat Lakes Tradeshow

The year 1990 marked another significant event in the company's history, when Great Lakes became an employee-owned company as a member of the Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP).

In 1999, Great Lakes Prosthodontics, Inc., a division of Great Lakes Orthodontics, Ltd., was formed, officially marking the company's growth into the prosthodontic profession.

Over the next several years, the company continued to grow and expand. In 2002, Great Lakes relocated to its current building and doubled its production and manufacturing space. A recent renovation added more than 20,000 square feet of space allowing the company even greater expansion opportunities.

The company's progressive expansion, the development of innovative products and services, as well as a shared vision among dedicated employee-owners, all work together to contribute to Great Lakes' continued growth and success.

In 2018, Great Lakes Orthodontics, Ltd. officially changed its name to Great Lakes Dental Technologies, representing the rapidly and ever-changing markets, and the evolution of the variety and scope of products and services our valued customers rely on us to provide.

Our Location

Great Lakes Dental Technologies is located in Tonawanda, a suburb of Buffalo, New York, at the northeast end of Lake Erie and is only a few miles from historic Niagara Falls and Canada. We are conveniently situated near the I-190 and I-290 interchange.


Great Lakes Dental Technologies statement of support, “The Herd of Hope campaign ensures that promising research at one of Buffalo’s most outstanding institutions will continue without interruption, and provide a beacon of hope for so many afflicted by cancer. As a corporate sponsor,
Great Lakes is proud to join the fight to find a cure."

Courage is displayed outside the front entrance of our corporate headquarters.