by Paul Feuerstein, DMD
The cluster of dental meetings early this year has given me a long list of new products to talk about and research. I really love to talk to the inventors and listen to their passion.
I think I had the most fun when listening to Dr. Dave Ronto from Michigan, who had a new "angle" (and a few more holes) in an HVE suction tip (www.masssuction.com). At about 15 cents, this was surely the least expensive product I saw (not quite high tech). But I was really captured by his enthusiasm.
I think that some of the salespeople and manufacturers lose this shine after they attend many tradeshows and presentations. I'm reminded of a David Bowie concert I saw about five years ago in Manchester, N.H. While it was a small venue, everyone took time and paid decent money for their tickets. It was the first time I had seen Bowie, and I was excited. I was taken by Bowie's enthusiasm and presentation.
He has performed the songs hundreds of times, but he treated this audience as if it were the first time he had performed the songs. Disney has this same philosophy – people save up for years to visit one of Disney's parks, and every person that works there has to be totally "on." Mickey Mouse cannot have a bad day. In dentistry, this philosophy not only goes for the people on the floor who are trying to impress us with their products, but it is how dentists and their staffs should treat patients every day. Leave your troubles at home.
The larger companies had big announcements at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting. i-CAT showed the new FLX unit with low-radiation settings and an array of combinations of voxel size, field of view, and exposure. The company's corporate partner, Dexis, showed a new software suite, as well as a mobile tablet-based (free app) display called DEXIS go.
Dentrix announced its cloud-based Ascend software. (A few other companies, such as Curve Dental and MediaDent, also showcased cloud options.) Colgate introduced a new remineralization product, Prevident 5000 Booster Plus, with fluoride (and faster uptake) and tricalcium phosphate that should be a great adjunct to treating decalcifications found with the new caries detection units. (I will detail these in another article.) These units included new versions of Acteon's SOPROLIFE (called SoproCare), Air Techniques Spectra, and Carestream's 1600 camera, along with the new Canary System from Quantum Dental Technologies (Canada).
DenMat showcased a new diode laser for less than $2,500 called SOL. Zila is the proud owner of the NV (former Styla), while AMD's Picasso line continues to draw attention.
A unique, simple device came from Larry Twersky, formerly of 1-800-DENTIST. RxTimerCap.com replaces the one the pharmacy gives you with those little brown vials of pills. The cover has a little display window that shows how much time has elapsed since you last opened the container.
The product resets to zero when you open the cap, and rather than count down (which would just stop), it counts up. No bells or whistles, just simple information. Larry also has been working with snoring and sleep apnea with 1-800-SNORING.
My head turned in Chicago when I saw a Ritter Dental booth. I had not seen this name in years. The company has been in Europe and has returned with an array of new, sleek dental products and equipment. Information can be found at Ritterdentalusa.com.
My head also turned when I saw space age-looking goggles that turned out to be a new set of 3-D video glasses from Zeiss called Cinema ProMED, based on the company's Optimizer system. Unlike older consumer versions I have used in my office, these glasses can be cleaned. They have a shield to block overhead light, and weigh very little due to the use of a new OLED screen.
At the BICON booth, an enthusiastic (after all these years) Dr. Vincent Morgan was thrilled to show me a new prosthetic CAD material called TRINIA, a fiber-reinforced resin that can be sent to a CAD/CAM mill. Vincent says it is good for copings, bridge frames, bars, and perhaps partial denture frames.
My biggest tech thrill was at a Benco display that had 3M True Definition, IOS FastScan, and 3Shape TRIOS scanners all in a line. They were able to export scans to a software design center, and then wirelessly send them to a small TS 150 milling center. The milling center was designed by Glidewell Labs. My dream of in-office CAD/CAM following the stereo component model seems to be coming true.
This is a glimpse of three days of running up and down the aisles in Chicago. Not only do I have more to tell, but after visiting the more than 2,000 exhibitors at the IDS meeting in March in Cologne, I'm not sure we'll have enough pages here to contain future updates. Stay tuned!
Paul Feuerstein, DMD, installed one of dentistry's first computers in 1978, teaching and writing about technology since then while practicing general dentistry in North Billerica, Mass. He maintains a website (www.computersindentistry.com), Facebook page (Paul-Feuerstein-DMD-Dental-Technology), is on Twitter (@drpaulf), and can be reached via email at [email protected].
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