Highlights from the 143rd Chicago Midwinter Dental Meeting

CHICAGO 2008 MIDWINTER MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

The 143rd Annual Chicago MidWinter Meeting was a resounding success, setting a new attendance record! In total, attendance reached 34, 535 with 7,515 dentists, over 4,200 dental assistance and approximately 3,600 hygienists.

There was a great variety of lectures with speakers offering insights on clinical advancements, practice building and many more topics of interest to all members of the dental team.

The exhibit floor was packed with companies presenting many innovative and exciting new products for improving the practice of dentistry. High-tech was definitely on show, with a number of new products designed to bring dentistry to a new level of performance.

Here are just a few highlights of some of those innovations:

Henry Schein was busy demonstrating their new “E4D Dentist”. The “E4D” System was presented as an easy to use chairside CAD/CAM system allowing dentists to do same day crowns, inlays, onlays and veneers, thus increasing productivity and providing greater patient service. The “E4D” allows dentists to scan, design and mill, offering “modern dentistry” for today’s patients and their modern lifestyles.

Discus Dental announced the launch of their new “Flashlite Magna” curing light, a powerful LED light with a wide 11 millimeter beam. The “Flashlite Magna” weighs in at 121 grams, is 219 mm in length, is cordless and uses 3 LED lights to generate ove 1,100 ms/cm2 output over the entire beam.

Ivoclar Vivadent had a number of new products on display at their booth, including the cordless “bluephase G2” for limitless LED curing. The company promotes the “bluephase G2” as suitable for every material, every indication, every time.

Kerr Corporation was also busy with new product innovations. A product already known and used extensively by dentists, “Premise”, now has a new optimized formulation. They also introduced a convenient new Mini Kit configuration that cross-sells a flowable and two bonding agents, primarily to attract new users.

We sat in on the Nobel Biocare press conference where they announced a number of product innovations. One announcement concerned the new “Procera” Software version 2.0, which, according to the company, is a next generation software with a more attractive, dynamic and user-friendly interface. They also announced new “Procera” coloured zirconia crowns, with a new unique colouring technique to provide optimal homogenity with no colour variations.

Nobel Biocare was also presenting their new “NobelActive” implant. Rather than cutting through bone like conventional implants, they press through it like a corkscrew. According to the company, this bone condensing capability delivers initial stability while the narrow neckis designed to preserve marginal bone and promote long-lasting soft tissue stability. NobelActive is in limited testing right now and all participants are required to participate in a NobelActive training course prior to using the implant.

Zenith Dental also featured a number of product introductions in Chicago. They introduced “LuxaCore Z-Dual”, an highly advanced endodontic core material and post cement, a product that is claimed to be an ideal post cement and core build-up material with superior compressive strength for improved stability. They also introduced “LuxaPost”, a glass-fibre-reinforced composite post, combining high quality with ease of use. And there was also the introduction of “LuxaBond-Total Etch”, a dual-cure adhesive system indicated for all indirect techniques.

This is just a very small sampling of the many new and fascinating products we saw on the exhibit floor. There were many more but this is just a taste. Be sure to mark your calendars now for the next year’s 144th Annual MidWinter Meeting, taking place February 26th through March 1st, 2009 at McCormick Place. You don’t want to miss it!

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