Benco National Sales meeting

February 21, 2009

Yesterday I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the Benco National Sales meeting. What a great day! This was a bit different for me….there was not a single dentist in the audience of 500 people. Rather it was the entire sales force of Benco. It was a fun challenge to present to a nondentist group.

What I learned in my preparation and my 3 days participating in their meeting is that this is a great company that’s trying hard to do the right thing. Benco has only recently started expanding West so I really didn’t know that much about the company. Now, knowing them better I’m truly impressed with the goals and the direction of this company! They truly are dedicated to the success of their dentists/clients.

I having a great time here with this group and will leave with a new appreciation for Benco and it’s dedication to our profession.

Shade Taking Technology in Cosmetic Dentistry

February 18, 2009

Recently we have started testing two shade taking devices.

The potential of this technology is very exciting. We have the Vita EasyShade Compact and the Olympus Crystal Eye. If this technology works it will be a huge advantage for dentists trying to do better (and profitable) cosmetic dentistry. The EasyShade, is just that very easy. the Crystal Eye, though easy to use is a far more complex machine. To date we have not done enough evaluation to give a fair opinion on either, but our initial impression is that these can certainly be helpful tools in arrive in the correct color selection.

That being said, it does not appear to be able to completely eliminate the human element of using your own eyes and make informed decisions. Certainly the potential exists to be able to more accurately select the appropriate shade for an anterior bonding case or a porcelain veneer case and even the dreaded single unit anterior crown!!