Chicago Midwinter condenses to three days

February 4, 2010 | dlpmagazine.com

web exclusive

Midwinter Meeting condenses

The Chicago Midwinter consolidates to three days, but events still abound at various venues, including the new McCormick Place West.

by Richard Palmer, Managing Editor

McCormick Place West will house several events during Chicago Midwinter.

While the centerpiece Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting may be a day shorter, the schedule of collateral dental industry happenings remains as full as ever. With plenty of opportunities to learn from leading experts on materials, equipment, technology, and business operations; chances to view and test the newest innovations for restorative and cosmetic dentistry; and networking options to exchange ideas with colleagues, you’ll need to plan you days carefully to take full advantage of your time in Sweet Home Chicago.

Main Course

Condensing the Chicago Dental Society’s Midwinter Meeting experience into a tighter package, the CDS has eliminated Sunday from its Midwinter schedule and shifted the exhibit hours to a Thursday-Friday-Saturday run to match the academic program Feb. 25-27.

In addition, the entire Midwinter Meeting will be held in the new McCormick Place West Building so attendees will be able to participate in workshops, learn at lectures, and discuss the latest products with vendors without walking the vast McCormick Place floor.

The educational portion will feature more than 200 courses covering all areas of interest for technicians, clinicians, and all specialists and auxiliaries; a number of courses also will be presented in Spanish. All scientific program events are ticketed, though more than half are free.

Filling out the 460,000 square feet of exhibition space in the West Building, Level 3, Hall F, more than 600 vendors will showcase the latest equipment and supplies for dental practices and laboratories each day from 9 a.m. 5:30 p.m.

For the first time, this year’s Midwinter Meeting will offer free health screenings for attendees presented by BlueApple Health. Located in the exhibit hall, the Midwinter Meeting Wellness Center will feature 10 tests. Preregistration is required for screening, which will be by appointment only.

Balancing business with pleasure, the CDS has a full schedule of social events planned as well. Thursday’s Opening Session reception from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., followed by author and comedian Rita Rudner. Entertainment Friday starting at 8 p.m. at the Park West with Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night. Moda Latina is the theme for the annual Fashion Show and Luncheon Friday at noon at the Hilton & Towers in the Grand Ballroom. Saturday, the Don Cagen Orchestra will provide musical entertainment at the President’s Dinner-Dance at the Hilton & Towers Grand Ballroom.

A searchable schedule of speakers and topics as well as an interactive floorplan of the exhibits is available online; for additional information, call 312-836-7300.

Once again this year, the CDS and the National Association of Dental Laboratories will co-sponsor a course specifically for technicians and clinicians to attend together for cooperative team learning. Don Iman, CDT, and Dr. Tif Qureshi will present “A Revolution for Cosmetic Dentistry” Saturday morning with an emphasis on cutting-edge orthodontic treatments. Contact the CDS for program and registration details.

Appetizers
Although the Midwinter Meeting doesn’t officially start until Thursday, a small number of events will take place Wednesday, Feb 24. The Dental Trade Alliance will host the World Dental Trade Conference from 8 a.m. to noon at the Hyatt Regenct McCormick Place with featured speaker Michael Treacy followed by the DTA Preview Show from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Preview Show brings together hundreds of domestic and international distributors of dental equipment and supplies. For information, call 703-379-7755 or e-mail info@dentaltradealliance.org.

The 20th annual Oral Health America Gala & Benefit will be held in the historic Union Station Great Hall Wednesday evening from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. For details on the limited-attendance, black-tie-optional fundraiser, call 312-836-9900.

Side orders
The Midwinter Meeting may be the showcase entree event, but to get the whole experience, you need to get out of McCormick Place and shuffle off to other venues for additional programs.

Starting Thursday and continuing Friday. The Cal-Lab Group will host its business-focused meeting at the Westin Michigan Avenue with ballroom presentations on the state of the industry, managing costs, regulatory standards, digital dentistry, purchasing high technology, team building, and marketing as well as a panel discussion on materials with representatives from Argen, Dentsply, GC, Heraeus Kulzer, Ivoclar, and Vident.

Shaun Keating, CDT, will present the keynote address, “Growth in a Declining Economy,” Friday morning. Meeting attendees are invited to stay on for “The Evolution of Esthetics and New Innovative Materials” presented by Drs. David Garber and Gui Cabral as part of GC’s Edu-Tech Day (see below) following the Cal-Lab meeting Friday afternoon.In addition, the exhibitor showcase and reception will be held Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Also running Thursday and Friday will be Technology for Today and Tomorrow, presented by The Barnes Group, at the Hilton Suites. The seminar will include focused technology and business-building presentations by Gary Fichtner, CDT; Mike Girard, Mike Spray, Mark Seiter, Eli Ganon, Dr. Mark Abramson, Chad Rogers, and Alan Barnes. The program also will feature the U.S introduction of a cutting-edge intraoral digital impression system. For details, call 800-252-6279.

The American Prosthodontic Society also will host its annual meeting Thursday and Friday, at the Westin Chicago River North. The scientific session will feature multiple presentations on zirconia, implants, and technology integration as well as table clinics and commercial exhibits. Lee Culp, CDT, will present “Digital Dentistry: Beyond Imagination” Thursday afternoon. Call 312-981-6780 or e-mail aps@prostho.org for details.

The American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics will hold its annual scientific program Friday and Saturday at the Chicago Marriott Downtown with lectures addressing implants, all-ceramics, esthetics, and case design. Just some of the outstanding presentations will be Dr. Daniel Edelhoff, “Light transmission through all-ceramic framework materials;” Dr. Dan Nathanson, “High-strength ceramics vs. PFM: The good, the bad, and the ugly;” and Dr. Dianne Rekow, “Reliably predicting performance of new ceramic restorative materials.” Call 866-254-0280 or e-mail aafpjordan@bellsouth.net for details.

Spectrum Dialogue will host its annual Spectrum Techno-Clinical Day Friday at the Wyndham Hotel. The lineup of speakers includes a faculty of international experts discussing everything from material handling to the latest technologies. To register, call 905-489-1970.

CONTINUE ON NEXT PAGE
{NEW_PAGE}

Specialties of the house

With thousands of dental professionals trekking to Chicago, it’s no wonder that dozens of manufacturers and suppliers organize their own events or host day-long programs that provide targeted education while simultaneously providing a forum for their own brand-new or well-known products for technicians and clinicians to take back to the lab and practice to get started Monday morning.

GC America will hold its annual Edu-Tech Day at the Westin Michigan Avenue in the Cotillion Ballroom. In addition to the presentation by Drs. David Garber and Gui Cabral, Pinhas Adad, CDT, MDT, and Luke Kahng, CDT, will conduct separate lectures focusing on materials, and Rick Sontag, CDT, will offer his expertise on production. Call Lisa Gray, CE Specialist, at 800-323-7063, ext. 4027, to register. Registration deadline is Feb. 20.

BEGO USA and Preat Corp. will again join forces this year for the Creative Edge Symposium Friday at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers. Preat’s Tom Bormes, CDT, will present a pair of back-to-back courses, “Fiber is good for you” and “Precision attachment retained removable partial dentures: The lost art” followed by BEGO’s Martin Schmid, CDT, on “Become an expert in crown & bridge.” Bormes and Schmid will be joined by Bruce Keeling for a one-hour Q&A session on removable, fixed, and implant cases. Call BEGO at 800-342-2346 or Preat at 800-232-7732 to register.

Jensen Dental's Education Day “Clarity: Strategies for Sustainability” will actually comprise Friday and Saturday at the Swissôtel. Don Cornell will moderate a series of short programs Friday from presenters Sascha Mein, MDT, Oral Design; Dr. Robert Winter; Michel Magne, MDT Oral Design; Aki Yoshida, MDT; and Olivier Tric, MDT as well as a keynote address by Jürgen Mehrhof, MDT, Oral Design. Breakout sessions Friday will include small-format lectures and hands-on demonstrations. Saturday will consist primarily of a limited-attendance day-long panel discussion, “Technology, process and profit.” To register, call 800-243-2000.

In addition to a series of lectures and workshops Saturday at the Sheraton in conjunction with Lab Day, Vident will host a pair of special panel discussions moderated by Dr. Mark Murphy: “All you need to thrive in a competitive environment” Friday and “Keys to understanding modern materials: Esthetics, function, and use” Saturday.

Speaking of Lab Day, the ballroom level of the Sheraton (two flights up from the River Exhibition Hall) will be abuzz as with educational opportunities as 3M ESPE takes up ballroom 6 on Friday and both 4 and 5 on Saturday, Nobel Biocare occupies ballroom 8 both days , and Vident has ballroom 8 Friday. Saturday’s dance card also includes Straumann USA in ballroom 1, Ivoclar in 6, Shofu in 8, and Zahn Dental in 9 and 10. Each company has a full schedule of programs.

Special orders
In addition to the well-publicized events, others are tucked in smaller rooms and venues but worth checking out. Just two examples are Renfert USA's “From a Clinician’s Point of View” program Saturday in the Sheraton Hospitality Suite 830 with up-close presentations by Michael Kessinich, CDT; Jim Collis, CDT; Luke Kahng, CDT; and Robert Kreyer, CDT. To register, call 800-336-7422.

Amann Girrbach will present its newest innovation, the Ceramill Mall CAD/CAM Concept, in the Odgen Suite of the Sheraton. To arrange a private demonstration, call 800-851-3719.

There’s more...lots more. But part of the fun of a meeting as large and comprehensive as Chicago is in finding those spontaneous activities where you learn more about the hows and whys of improving your business and your skills. Search them out, and make the most of your time in the Windy City.

Richard Palmer is managing editor for DLP. Contact him at rpalmer@advanstar.com.

Join the Discussion

• Comment on this and other articles on our Facebook page