coming to Chicago armed with cel phone

Coming to Chicago armed with this cel phone. Hope to blog close to live when I am there. Teaching classses all day Thursday and Friday AM-once I hit the floor Friday afternoon it will be non-stop looking for new and re-aquainting with old.

Disposable electronics?

Every once in a while a gizmo breaks in my house or office. The cost of repairing an old VCR or pair of headphones becomes ridiculous. I recently had to throw out an HP multifunction printer- the cable that runs the print heads had jammed and broken. HP or actually anyone wanted about $200 for a repair IF they could do it. A new, better one was $399 .

Recently my RCA combo VCR/DVD recorder died. No power- no lights. Must be a dead power supply. I checked RCA and the store that I had gotten it from and found it was of course out of warranty and this brand line was actually sold from RCA to another company. I figured I would search for a new one and in the process decided to go to Google and type in " power supply problem RCA VCR/DVD recorder ( and the model #)". Lo and behold there were many posts about a known problem with a capacitor in the power supply. One nice guy from PA had posted "send me an email and I will give free you step by step instructions on how to replace this for under $10"-even an dentist could do this! His underlying message was that we consumers are getting screwed by manufacturers who put out items in a hurry without proper testing and as long as they last 1 year and a day, they are fine.

Thanks to Mike Adams in PA who sent me this info along with some nice things to say about dentistry and his dentist.

New Intraoral Impression Scanner-IOS FastScan

To be introduced at Chicago MW and viewed in the Glidewell booth. http://www.ios3d.com/ . You hold it in one position and the light moves and scans. It can also scan impressions. Lots more info and video on the site. The product is still in final revisions so it is not just yet commercially available. More reports after I see it in 2 weeks.

New Oral Cancer Screening Device-Identafi 3000

This is from the press release. I will be using this device in ,my office as soon as it is available and report here. Info is at :http://www.trimira.net/

Houston-based Trimira™ LLC has introduced Identafi™ 3000, a small, cordless, handheld device that can detect oral cancer. The device uses a three-wavelength optical illumination and visualization system to allow dental professionals to catch early cancers not visible to the naked eye. This effective and affordable device will aid in early detection of oral cancer. Identafi 3000 uses white, violet, and amber wavelengths of light to excite oral tissue in distinct and unique ways. Biochemical changes can be monitored with fluorescence, while morphological changes can be monitored with reflectance. This multiple wavelength technology identifies abnormal tissue with more accuracy than the single color approaches currently on the market.

No More 3 Ring Circus

Click Ray has introduced a universal xray ( sensor, PSP or film) positioning system called ClickStick. Info is at http://www.clickray.com/ It will be officially introduced at the Chicago Midwinter meeting.

Posting from Cel Phone

I can now post from my cel phone. This can be dangerous.

Yankee Dental review

The feeling of the meeting planners is that this was a success. The many commuting and parking issues of last year seemed to have been resolved. Floor traffic was heavy at the times that the courses were let out- there seemed to be a 3 hour window mid-day that flooded the floor. The complaints were actually directed more at the convention center location and comparisons to the "old location". Since this center is not in the middle of downtown, you have to commute to get to shopping and restaurants. Strangely, this is the same setup as other meetings such as Chicago MW, but the attendees from years past miss that immediacy of walking out of the front door of the Hynes and strolling down Newbury Street.

There were always lines of waiting people at the magnification/loupes/headlights booths down to the closing bell- perhaps I will revisit this area as dentists, assistants and hygienists I spoke with all felt an urgency for these.
There were some innovative new handpieces- air, electric, "hybrids" and even hygiene. Notable were the Midwest stylus electric controlled air handpiece that uses feedback to maintain constant speed even when the bur is leaned on. Morita showed a unique "dual turbine" design with a 2 year warranty that, at least cutting at the show, was quite robust. Kavo had a new hybrid although i did not have a chance to review it. Electrics will surely increase their presence.
A number of web based companies all promise getting you at the top of the search engines, all stating they had deals with Google. Pricing ran a wide spread. Something again to investigate here. Also new ideas of patient contact- Smile Reminder has a clever video setup that puts your patients testimonials online. Lighthouse PLZ has an incredible array of tools to keep you in contact with your patients. Too many to list here- they will all be noted on my website online handout with the live links at http://www.computersindentistry.com/

More posting later.