COLOGNE, Germany - Up early again Thursday to get ready for another busy day. The snow was coming down as I boarded the train to the convention center.
Taking the train in Cologne to the convention center.The convention floor is getting more crowded each day as more European dentists arrive.
Let's start with some news from Philips, which announced updates to the AirFloss and the Flexcare. AirFloss now has a self-firing function to speed up your flossing. Unfortunately, this new AirFloss will not be available in the U.S. for some time, according to the company. The new FlexCare Platinum has three levels of intensity and three modes.
Acteon has some interesting new products: the ultrasonic scalers the Newtron P5 and P5XS. The flagship P5XS can deliver medicants for periodontal treatment and also disclosing solution to aid in finding plaque and removing it while scaling. There is also iPad control if desired. Both units have an LED light in the tip, which can be white or blue, to help identify plaque.
EMS Air-Flow powders can be used supra- and subgingivally.Acteon's X-Mind unit is an x-ray head that can integrate with a Sopix sensor. The sensor plugs into the x-ray unit and automatically shuts off the x-ray generator when the proper amount of radiation is received. This reduces x-ray exposure to the patient.
EMS has launched new Air-Flow powders for the Air-Flow Handy 3.0 air polisher. These different powders can be used both supra- and subgingivally.
3M ESPE has a new impression material, Imprint 4. It is a fast-setting, self-warming A-silicone material capable of setting in 1:15. It gives off a slight warmth and has a mint flavor.
I also saw the Lythos orthodontic scanner, which can produce images for fabricating clear aligners and bracket carriers.
The Lythos orthodontic scanner.Sirona is launching 25 new products at IDS. Highlights include new lab and chairside milling machines, plus a lab impression scanner and more aesthetic milling blocks for use in the Cerec milling machine.
Milling blocks for use in the Sirona Cerec system.Sirona is also offering a very interesting combination of cone-beam CT (CBCT) images: Cerec scanning and facebow mounting along with soft-tissue imaging to enhance complex treatments involving temporomandibular joint disorder therapy and changing occlusion. The images can all be combined so that final results can be accessed and splints can be made to determine patient acceptability prior to doing the definitive restoration.
Another interesting use of CBCT is for sleep apnea analysis. You can view airway volumes and segmentation. After appropriate jaw repositioning has been determined, an oral appliance can be ordered from the digital information. I had my face scanned with this Sirona system:
Cone-beam CT can be used for sleep apnea analysis.In addition to the plethora of scanning devices at this year's IDS, stereolithography is playing an emerging role in laboratory prosthetics, from fabricating removable partial denture frameworks and dentures to the patterns for fabricating porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns and bridges.
I ended Day Three in the convention hall listening to music at the Brazilian pavilion, then attended a business meeting (aka party) and also got a much-needed massage.
A nice way to end Day Three at IDS!More to come from Cologne tomorrow!
Marty Jablow, DMD, lectures and consults extensively about integrating technologies into the modern dental practice (www.dentaltechnologycoach.com).
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