DPR Friday: Highlights from Tech Census 2012 and Pride "Best of Class" Award Honorees

This week's episode of DPR Friday brings you an inside look at a few of the Pride Institute "Best of Class" honorees. This feature will appear each month leading up to the ADA Annual Session, allowing the technology panel to explain why they chose this year's winners. Featured this month are Guru, BruxZir and Lighthouse 360.

The Tech Census 2012 results are also discussed. This year's format is a bit different than years' past, but the goal remains the same: providing a benchmark for you when it comes to new technologies, and what your peers are doing.

This year's census focused on five key categories: Lasers, Dental Digital Radiography, CAD/CAM, 3D Imaging, and High-Tech Prevention.

Full Transcript

It’s the 2012 Technology Census. Time to find out what your peers have, plan to have, or wish they had when it comes to high tech equipment. And, for those looking to start their technology must-have list, a deeper dive on the first three Pride Institute “Best of Class” honorees.

It’s Friday, July 13 and this is DPR Friday.

Welcome to this week’s episode of DPR Friday. I’m Thais Carter, Director of Content for Advanstar Dental Media.

So, Dental Products Report has been doing the Technology Census for more than a decade. And while this year we’ve switched up the format a bit, the goal remains the same: To get a read on what technologies have hit their so-called tipping point. What is the practice down the street likely to have? What technologies do your peers hope to install in the next year? We find out so that you can benchmark yourself, get a sense of the technology landscape and figure out where you want to be.

In this year’s census, we focus on 5 key categories: Lasers, digital radiography, 3D imaging, CAD/CAM and high-tech prevention. To check out all of this year’s data and get how-to advice on putting the latest and greatest to use, pick up the July issue of DPR or go to dentalproductsreport.com.

And now, on to the “Best of Class” honorees. As you already know, there are 18 winners this year. We’ll be covering a handful of them each issue leading up the “Best of Class” Technology Expo at the ADA’s Annual Session in San Francisco this October. This month…

Lighthouse 360 is a comprehensive automated patient communications system for dental practices, designed to take the best features available in competitive systems and go a step beyond.

When asked why Lighthouse 360 deserved to be a 2012 honoree, panelist Dr. John Flucke had this to say: “The fact that the product does so much with so little time or effort required of the staff or doctor makes it a winner in the panel’s eyes.”

Loaded with hundreds of state-of-the-art animations, Guru 5 now features predefined case presentations and one-click operation, making it more simple than ever to present compelling treatment plans in seconds.

Asked what sets Guru apart in the industry, “Best of Class” founder Dr. Lou Shuman had this to say: “Guru is made up of hundreds of small educational video clips that can be shown independently or stitched together for a more exhaustive presentation and treatment plan. It is not a “one size fits all” approach.”

And, a surprising choice this year: A material! Glidewell Laboratories' BruxZir^® Solid Zirconia is a monolithic zirconia restoration with no porcelain overlay. Strong and beautiful, BruxZir crowns and bridges are reshaping expectations based on years of metal occlusal PFMs and full-cast metal restorations.

Panelist Dr. Marty Jablow stressed that it was BruxZir that started the monolithic zirconia restoration revolution. “The ability to place a full coverage ceramic restoration in high stress bearing areas allows for the dentist to feel confident that the restoration will last, and the patients love the improved cosmetics,” he said.

For the full report on all the products, pick up the July issue of DPR or go to dentalproductsreport.com/pridebestofclass. Look forward to more Pride Institute “Best of Class” coverage next month.

For those of you watching on YouTube, don’t forget that you can easily check out last week’s episode or others you may have missed.

That’s it for today’s episode. For more on the latest products and industry news, don’t miss DPR Friday next week, and every week.

Thanks for watching, and have a great weekend.