I just found the below link that will take you to a recent article I published on Digital Impression systems.
It may be of interest to those dentists looking at getting into digital impressions. We’ve had our iTero system for 18 months now and love it. From single unit crowns to 10 units of no prep veneers to bridges, the iTero has been great!
In the December issue of Dentistry Today I had the honor of being recognized along with 249 other dental educators. Each year Dentistry Today list the 250 educators in the dental industry to acknowledge their efforts to help pass on knowledge to their peers.
I’m proud that this is the 6th year in a row that Dentistry Today has placed me on this list of my peers and mentors. It is truly an honor.
The below link will take you to the digital issue of the Dentistry Today’s Dec ‘09 issue:
I have just returned from attending and presenting at the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry’s (AACD) annual meeting.
It was a busy week. I gave three different presentations during the week. The first was a discussion in the corporate symposium venue discussing Septodont’s new composite n’Durance. The second was on the AACD main program reviewing and discussing the topic of Elective Cosmetic Dentistry and Adolescents and Young Adults. This program focused on the many conservative options available to enhance the smiles of this patient demographic. Lastly, I ended the week with a workshop on porcelain veneer preparation skills. In this workshop we discussed and practiced with several variations of porcelain veneer preparation design and how material selection effect the design.
In addition to my speaking responsiblilities I am on the Professional Education Committee (PEC) for the AACD. This committee is responsible for the the annual scientific session, along with other education efforts of the AACD. In Hawaii my duties where minimal and mostly in a support capacity. However, I will be the AACD program chair for the 2011 meeting in Boston. So my work for the AACD and the PEC has just begun.
The AACD is a great organization. It is one of my favorite weeks of the year. A great week of learning, sharing, and seeing many friends.
I just got in the mail today the April edition of Oral Health. Oral Health is one of the largest dental journals in Canada.
Last year the editor asked that I submit an article for publication to the journal. I sent in two case studies on patients that I had recently completed no prep Venus veneers on. He liked the article so much he requested that I submit a photo of the patients for the cover of the journal…..which I, of course, did.
the following link will take you to the online version of the article: http://www.oralhealthjournal.com/issues/ISarticle.asp?id=209315&story_id=132400142748&issue=04012009&PC=
the article discusses the thought process behind no prep veneers as well as some techniques. importantly for dentists this article was published to demonstrate that it is possible to get great esthetics and great soft tissue response with veneers on unprepared teeth. Given all the negative critiques of Lumineers and other similar products, in this article I tried to disspell some of the myths that are out in the profession.
i welcome comments and other ideas on this subject.
for those interested in pursuing more about this concept of no prep veneers I can refer you to two places:
1. I learn much of this information from Dr. Dennis Wells in Nashville. Dennis provides inoffice courses on this subject. go to: www.musiccityseminars.com for more info…….great course.
2. I’m chairing the 2nd Annual North American Symposium on No Prep Veneers in Cleveland June 5,6. This program brings together many experienced dentists and ceramists to discuss the concept of No Prep veneers. go to: www.acesthetics.com for more info.
Gary Radz, DDS
I recently returned from the Chicago MidWinter Dental meeting. I found a few interesting new technologies that may be of interest, especially on the patient education aspect of a cosmetic dental practice.
First was a new patient education program available thru Schien, called GURU. Very simple to use, has great interfacing with existing software, good/brief/accurate descriptions that will help the patient understand better conditions and treatments we are discussing with them. I’m current doing an in office evaluation of GURU. Our initial impression has been very positive.
Another cool piece of software I found is by Dentsply Prosthetics called TruRx. It is a digital denture prescription. Very helpful for the dentist that does not do alot of removable work. The software will guide you thru how to select the teeth. The most interesting thing about the software is it’s ability to do instant smile imaging. Using a digital photograph of the patient the software perform a smile enhancement instantly on the patients photo to be able to provide the patient with an idea of how their smile can be improved. What I really like about this application is that you can use the imaging on the patient whether you are doing a denture OR doing veneers!
Along these lines Heraeus has an online program available at www.smilebyvenus.com which can allow anyone to upload a digital photo onto the Venus site and the patient can actually do their own imaging! Really cool stuff with lots of potential. Definately makes me glad that I signed up to be a “Venus Provider”. I think this website can certainly draw a few patients to our website and hopefully our office.
All of the above are interesting technologies that are worth a look.
Gary Radz, DDS
Yesterday I had the honor of being the keynote speaker at the Benco National Sales meeting. What a great day! This was a bit different for me….there was not a single dentist in the audience of 500 people. Rather it was the entire sales force of Benco. It was a fun challenge to present to a nondentist group.
What I learned in my preparation and my 3 days participating in their meeting is that this is a great company that’s trying hard to do the right thing. Benco has only recently started expanding West so I really didn’t know that much about the company. Now, knowing them better I’m truly impressed with the goals and the direction of this company! They truly are dedicated to the success of their dentists/clients.
I having a great time here with this group and will leave with a new appreciation for Benco and it’s dedication to our profession.
Recently we have started testing two shade taking devices.
The potential of this technology is very exciting. We have the Vita EasyShade Compact and the Olympus Crystal Eye. If this technology works it will be a huge advantage for dentists trying to do better (and profitable) cosmetic dentistry. The EasyShade, is just that very easy. the Crystal Eye, though easy to use is a far more complex machine. To date we have not done enough evaluation to give a fair opinion on either, but our initial impression is that these can certainly be helpful tools in arrive in the correct color selection.
That being said, it does not appear to be able to completely eliminate the human element of using your own eyes and make informed decisions. Certainly the potential exists to be able to more accurately select the appropriate shade for an anterior bonding case or a porcelain veneer case and even the dreaded single unit anterior crown!!
In late August we recieved our iTero digital impression machine from Cadent. We have had impressive results and are really excited about the potential this technology brings to our office.
Recently I’ve been working with the leadership with Cadent and discussing how we can help with exposing more dentists to this technology. In the very near future we expect to be holding some evening courses in our office to demonstate this technology. Check back to this site or email me (radzdds@aol.com) for more infomation.
Additionally, I will have an article published in the March addition of Dental Economics regarding digital impression technology and our experiences with the iTero unit.
Gary M. Radz, DDS
As of Monday, we are now open for business in our new downtown dental practice in Denver.
Although not entirely complete we are able to see patients and conduct business. It is going to be a wonderful place to work.
Also, our education facility is nearly completed. Looking forward to start booking some educational events here in the near future. Currently in discussions with the Tulsa Implant folks and the Cadent iTero sales team to begin to host some programs for them.
Looking forward to getting that aspect of our facility going as well. Continue to follow this blog for more information regarding dental education and/or go to the schedule section of www.garyradz.com for a complete listing of our in office programs as well.
Gary Radz, DDS
Snow Mountain Seminars
303 298 1414
In September we had the first organizational meeting of the Colorado Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. This group is an affilate of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (www.aacd.com) . I look forward to having a local group of like minded dentists to share ideas.
This group also will help to provide a venue to bring to Colorado esthetically focused continuing education. I accepted the job as CE chairman for our new organization. Having served in the past and currently in a similar capacity within our parent organization I hope to use that experience to bring in some excellent speakers.
Our first program will be on Feb. 6th, 2009 at the CDA/MDDS building. We will have 2 great speakers at this program. First will be Dr. Hugh Flax from Atlanta. Hugh is currently the AACD vice-president and will assume the presidency in two years. Hugh also founded the Georgia AACD affilate, so he will be a great source of information for our membership as to how to fully utilize our new organization. Additionally, Hugh as a wealth of knowledge in the area of laser usage in cosmetic dentistry and will be doing a presentation on this subject as well. Our second speaker is local prosthodontist Dr. Aldo Leopardi. Aldo was one of the highest rated speakers at the last AACD national meeting! He’ll be presenting his anterior implant lecture, which is an excellent program for any cosmetic dentists to learn more.
Anyone interested can contact me directly at radzdds@aol.com .
I look forward to learning more locally and to the challenge of bringing to Colorado cosmetic dentists great speakers.
Gary M. Radz, DDS
www.garyradz.com
downtown denver dental practice : www.radzdds.com and www.downtowndenverdentist.com