LEIPZIG, Germany: The dental industry is known for its resistance to economic recession; however, as dentists know, no clinic is an island. In the third financial quarter of this year, dentists in developing dental markets experienced better patient flow than their counterparts in some of the world’s wealthiest nations did. Softening consumer trends—particularly in the area of orthodontics—led to ups and downs and some major surprises for the world’s largest dental manufacturers, causing some of them to lower their earnings forecasts for the full year.