Monday, March 3, 2014
This year has started off with some of the most interesting new product additions to dentistry that I have seen in a long time. If you have an opportunity to go to the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, you will get a chance to see the initial unveiling of many of these products.
In many ways, the Chicago dental meeting is turning into the CES of dentistry as companies use the show to debut their latest innovations and digital technology continues to pervade the industry. Here are a few highlights worth considering for your practice.
CAD/CAM Competition Heats Up
Sirona has positioned themselves as the company to beat with the success of CEREC, a solid and progressive CAD/CAM system that allows for chairside milling. Now 3Shape definitely has their eye on this competition with the launch of their new TRIOS Color intraoral scanner.
A TRIOS Color with shade matching.
It scans in full color similar to the Omnicam, and the capture is incredibly fast. Once the digital model is complete, you can take a high-res single shot of the area and get full VITA shade details in the image. If the multi-touch display on the mobile cart is not your thing, they have options to connect the TRIOS to a laptop, or attach it to your delivery system like a handpiece. Two killer features in the 3Shape software are its ability to automatically eliminate false data such as when a lip temporarily gets in the way of the scan, as well as automatically lining up upper and lower models from the buccal bite scan. With all these features, and the company’s deep integration on the lab side, 3Shape is a legitimate competitor in the realm of chairside scanning and CAD/CAM dentistry.
More Digital Options for Invisalign
Speaking of digital impressions, the True Definition Scanner from 3M ESPE remains continues to feature one of the slimmest camera designs, diversity in application, and an industry crushing price point. If you have a TDS, and have 3M ESPE’s Advanced Data Plan, you can now send your full arch scans to Invisalign. The only other camera system that can do that is Align Technology’s own iTero.
Digital Motion Capture for a Digital Facebow Record
A CBCT scan in SICAT Function software.
The obvious push for CAD/CAM dentistry is to move away from using a physical model entirely. One area of limitation has been the articulator, and the ability to transfer true movement when establishing occlusion. SICAT, a Sirona entity, has released new software called SICAT Suite which allows for analysis of Cone Beam CT scans. The first main module is called SICAT Function, and is tied to a facebow-like piece of hardware. You mount this on the patient similar to the way you would a regular facebow. You can have them practice chewing, or moving their jaw through excursive movements, and the software tracks the position of the facebow in real time. This information can then be applied to the CT scan to analyze TMJ movement, sleep apnea, and more. You can also then export this data to CEREC software’s virtual articulator to perform an actual occlusal analysis of your restorations prior to fabrication. In this way, the digital articulator even beats a traditional articulator because you are programming in the patient’s own exact movements.
Caries Detection Made Easy
Caries detected with DEXIS CariVu.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the new caries detection camera from DEXIS is going to save a lot of explanation to your patients. The new CariVu from DEXIS in some ways looks like a digital intraoral camera. When facing the occlusal side of the tooth, there are two wings that wrap around and transilluminate the entire tooth. The camera picks up a black and white image, and you can see interproximal caries in real time. This is especially useful for those cases in which you have a good digital x-ray but there is still some ambiguity regarding any decay. While this may not replace the diagnostic capability of an x-ray, it certainly brings more information to the table, and could help put the x-ray-phobic patient a little more at ease.
Open Architecture Made Simple
There is a lot of talk in the industry regarding these digital imaging solutions, and whether or not they are “open” or “closed” systems. A closed system means the 3D imaging device will only work with one type of milling machine, or one type of lab design software. An open system means you can pick and choose based on your preference. This means you could take a scanner from one company, and use a mill from an entirely different company, or send it to almost any lab and have it work with their software.
The thing I like about a closed system is that everything just works. If an upgrade is done on the software of the scanner, it most likely won’t break the connection to the milling machine because they are from the same company and part of the same system. Unfortunately with open systems, an upgrade to one component could disrupt the connectivity to another part of the system. However, if someone comes out with a cheaper, faster scanner, and you are working with a closed system, you are stuck with what you have.
Company’s such as CAD Blu Dental offer a nice solution to the open architecture issue. An established player in the lab industry, CAD Blu provides sales of open architecture CAD/CAM technologies, but they provide service for them as if the components were part of a closed system. They can set up your office or lab with an open scanner that can be used with a list of 3D printers or milling machines. They are in a position to make sure you are always up to date and have flexibility with your choices so you don’t have to worry about any incompatibility. For the lab technician, this is especially helpful to expand the type of cases that can be accepted by the office.
Non-Digital Bonus!
ACTIVA BioACTIVE Restorative.
One new product that has nothing to do with digital dentistry is a new restorative material from Pulpdent called ACTIVA BioACTIVE. Simply put, this product is a combination of glass ionomer and composite resin. Traditional composites are hydrophobic, whereas ACTIVA has a water-based resin component. The idea is that the bioactive ionomer glass fillers can be activated by the water and form an ionic bond to enamel and dentin. They say the properties of this material allow it to absorb and release minerals such as calcium and fluoride, strengthening the tooth structure to which it is bonded. They have done a good amount of research on this material to back up their claims, making it a product worth looking in to.
Have a comment, or a new favorite product of your own? Drop a comment below!