Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Dental products are at the heart of what Dentalcompare is all about. Our mission is to help you, the dental professionals, learn about your choices in the dental marketplace.
Our product directory is where most of you spend the majority of your time on our site, and it exists to help you find the mix of products, technologies and services that best fit your specific practice.
Here is a look at 2016’s 10 most popular categories of products in our directory:
10. Digital Panoramic X-rays – There’s a saying that you can’t treat what you can’t see, so it’s no surprise so many of the categories making up this list have to do with diagnostic imaging. While often overshadowed by the excitement around 3D imaging, digital panoramic systems are far more common in practices, and have become workhorse systems for diagnostics and documentation.
9. LED Curing Lights – As materials continue to evolve, having a reliable and powerful curing light at the ready is key for any practice. There are numerous options when it comes to LED curing lights, and dental professionals certainly benefit by doing a bit of homework before selecting the right light for their practice.
8. Core Build-Up Materials – The only material category to make this year’s top 10 list, core-build up materials are an important standard part of many treatment protocols. Having the right material, and the related materials that work with it, remains as important today as ever.
7. Dental Loupes – While the many imaging categories on this list are about seeing more for diagnostics, loupes are about seeing more during examination and treatment. Magnification makes it easier to work in tight intraoral spaces, and many clinicians list loupes as the most important product in their practice. No wonder it’s among the most popular categories in the directory.
6. Dental Sterilizers – While dentists often say they couldn’t practice without their loupes, they quite literally could not safely and legally practice without their sterilizer. The autoclave is a system that is almost always in use in any busy practice and if it goes down, the practice isn’t likely to stay open much longer.
5. Cone Beam Imaging Systems – Seeing more, and seeing it more accurately, is what 3D cone beam imaging is all about. While once just seen as a tool for implant treatment planning, cone beam is now a staple in orthodontics, dental sleep medicine, endodontics and a range of other specialties. 3D imaging is definitely the future of dentistry, but it’s also the present.
4. Soft Tissue Lasers – To the layperson, lasers are still the stuff of science fiction, but diode lasers are now a common sight in dental practices. Useful for a range of soft tissue procedures, this technology no longer breaks the bank, making it an accessible and useful option for almost any practice.
3. Digital Impression Systems – Digital dentistry is the direction of the industry’s future, and in most cases digital treatment starts with a digital impression. Already faster and more accurate than impressions captured with traditional materials, these systems open a range of new treatment and communication options for clinicians.
2. Intraoral Cameras – If loupes are often cited as among the most essential dental technologies, intraoral cameras are often mentioned as the best investment for a practice. Higher quality images and lower prices make it easier and more sensible than ever to invest in these cameras that are great for diagnostics, documentation, and possibly most importantly, patient education.
1. Digital X-ray Sensors – The dental x-ray is still the bedrock diagnostic tool of most practices. X-rays are used for the baseline assessment of a patient and digital x-rays offer countless improvements over their film-focused predecessors. Practices that have yet to go digital are weighing their options to find the best system, and those that are already digital are keeping on top of the latest options to be ready for their next upgrade.