Chicago MidWinter Dental Meeting – Technology

March 23, 2009

I recently returned from the Chicago MidWinter Dental meeting. I found a few interesting new technologies that may be of interest, especially on the patient education aspect of a cosmetic dental practice.

First was a new patient education program available thru Schien, called GURU. Very simple to use, has great interfacing with existing software, good/brief/accurate descriptions that will help the patient understand better conditions and treatments we are discussing with them. I’m current doing an in office evaluation of GURU. Our initial impression has been very positive.

Another cool piece of software I found is by Dentsply Prosthetics called TruRx. It is a digital denture prescription. Very helpful for the dentist that does not do alot of removable work. The software will guide you thru how to select the teeth. The most interesting thing about the software is it’s ability to do instant smile imaging. Using a digital photograph of the patient the software perform a smile enhancement instantly on the patients photo to be able to provide the patient with an idea of how their smile can be improved. What I really like about this application is that you can use the imaging on the patient whether you are doing a denture OR doing veneers!

Along these lines Heraeus has an online program available at www.smilebyvenus.com which can allow anyone to upload a digital photo onto the Venus site and the patient can actually do their own imaging! Really cool stuff with lots of potential. Definately makes me glad that I signed up to be a “Venus Provider”. I think this website can certainly draw a few patients to our website and hopefully our office.

All of the above are interesting technologies that are worth a look.

 

Gary Radz, DDS