THE FUTURE OF THE PROFESSIONS REVISTED: A BOUNDARY WORK PERSPECTIVE ON DIGITALIZATION IN DENTISTRY

We explore how the process of boundary work shapes the outcomes of new technology introduction for the professions by studying the emergence and development of teleorthodontics companies that use MedTech platforms to decouple teeth-straightening from the orthodontist’s practice. Building on 27 interviews and unique archival data, we show how teleorthodontics companies first engaged in competitive boundary work, then shifted to collaborative and eventually ended up with blurring and embedding boundary work with the profession. We find that the process resulted in the shifting boundaries between the dentistry and orthodontics, where the lower-status profession of dentistry increasingly took over orthodontic tasks which was enabled by MedTech platforms. Our analysis explains that this outcome emerged as an unintentional and ironic consequence of the boundary work efforts by the orthodontics professional association to shut down teleorthodontics. We discuss implications for the literature on new technologies, professions and boundary work.