Wednesday, December 19, 2018
The midpoint of our annual year in review is when attention turns from editorial content to the main reason visitors come to Dentalcompare, and that's the Dentalcompare Product Directory. A majority of visitors to this website spend their time in the Directory looking at categories, researching products and figuring out which one best fits that practice.
The Product Directory is currently home to more than 500 categories of products and every category is interconnected with related content, videos and other materials help provide context for dental professionals researching solutions for their practices. This list of top categories combines the views of the category pages and the views of individual products within a category. This provides the deepest look at what types of products are receiving the most attention on Dentalcompare. As always technology leads the way, and this year's top 10 features a few new categories from previous years
Here are the Top 10 Dental Product Categories of 2018:
10. Dental Loupe Lights – While loupe lights were once inconvenient heavy systems with bulky battery packs and tangles of wires, they've evolved significantly during the past few years and like most technologies, they've gotten smaller, lighter, and quite simply better. The newest systems are completely wireless and use small, rechargeable batteries while offering powerful lighting aimed wherever the clinician is looking. In some cases, clinicians are so pleased with the lighting from their loupe mounted LEDs that the overhead operatory light is gathering dust. However, some expert feel using both lighting solutions is optimal. Either way, there's no denying that advanced systems are increasing the interest in this product category.
9. Surgical Dress and Hemostatic Materials – While no restorative materials made it on the top 10 list this year, this category continues to stay popular. There's a need for dressings and hemostatics in a range of dental situations, so knowing what is available and being sure to have the right types of materials in the correct shapes and sizes is always important in a busy dental practice.
8. Dental Loupes – All those lights people are looking at have to go somewhere, so it makes sense that loupes also appears on this list of top categories. Being able to see what and where you are working is a critical part of dentistry, and loupes are among the best ways to do that. Some dentists and hygienists wouldn't practice without a set of loupes to look through, and while every set should be custom fit for clinician comfort and loupe effectiveness, it's important to know what you're looking for before sitting down for that fitting.
7. Digital Impression Systems – At one time there were just a handful of companies making these intraoral scanners, but now there a large number of available options with systems available from established dental technology and even materials companies, technology companies just entering the dental market, and others. While most of the available systems are open-architecture solutions, there are numerous features and capabilities that set these systems apart. As a digital impression solution can become a technology hub for a dental practice it's important to research your options before selecting the system for your practice.
6. Intraoral Cameras – Another wand-based intraoral digital imaging technology, intraoral cameras are a straightforward and powerful tool for documenting and showing patients what is happening in their mouths. These cameras might seem interchangeable as they are just about all hand-held devices that plug into a computer via USB, but there is a huge range of features, capabilities and price points in this category, which is certainly part of the reason it finds a place on this list more often than not.
5. Dental Cone Beam Imaging – These 3D imaging systems open more doors for a dental practice than almost any other category of dental products. The ability to take x-ray imaging from two dimensions to three means a clinician has a far more accurate picture to work from. After all, the actual patients are three dimensional. Using a cone beam imaging system means better diagnostics, better treatment planning, more powerful images for patient communications, and the ability to add services for things such as sleep medicine and airway management. It's no surprise so many dental professionals are looking at the cone beam section of Dentalcompare.
4. Dental Tooth Shade Guide – Getting the shade correct is a key part of restorative dentistry, so it makes sense that plenty of people take a few moments on Dentalcompare to check out the shade guides we have listed. For one reason or another, more people than usual chose to do this in 2018, and thus the category finds itself in the top half of this list, ahead of several perennially popular categories.
3. Dental Diode Lasers – Diode lasers are now an important operatory instrument for many dental practices, and those without these systems on a countertop are very likely to be considering adding one. Useful for a wide range of soft tissue applications, diode lasers are great to have around whether being used by the dentist or a hygienist. The newest diode lasers are powerful and versatile systems with eye-catching designs so they look great in a practice while also helping that practice provide the best possible care to patients.
2. Dental 3D Printers – If we published a category of the year, 3D Printers would take the title running away in 2018. This category of products dominated the coverage and products that received the most attention this year, and the category missed out on the top spot on this list by fewer than 200 page views. It's easy to see why this is a case, as much like Cone Beam Systems, 3D printers hold the possibility of shaking up restorative, orthodontic, implant, and general dentistry in countless ways. The ability to create custom shapes out of a wide range of materials is already a big part of many dental laboratories, and now a growing number of dental practices are also jumping in. 3D printing is still an improving technology, but it offers the promise of doing many important tasks more accurately, less expensively, and eventually, the technology will allow this to be done more quickly as well. Some workflows and printers are already there. This technology stands to be a big part of the future of the dental industry.
1. Dental Intraoral Sensors – Digital x-ray sensors are no longer hold a place on the very tip of the cutting edge with some of the other dental technologies on this list, but they're among the most important pieces of equipment in many dental practices, and digital imaging is ready to leave film-based imaging to the pages of history. The latest in digital sensors are durable, comfortable, capable of capturing incredibly detailed x-ray images, and of course designed to operate with the lowest radiation levels possible. Digital x-rays are a simple way to upgrade a practice to provide, safer, better, and more efficient care to patients. These sensors are an investment for any practice so it's important to understand what sets one apart from the others to find the best sensor for your practice.