The opening round of the tournament features some exciting and wildly incongruous matchups between dental products of all types. So find a reason, or just throw a dart, but vote for a product and watch to see if it advances on to a new matchup in round 2.
Here are the 8 first round matchups from the Upper Left Quadrant
Seed 1 Vs. Seed 16
tab32 created an open data warehouse that allows for a standardized taxonomy for data collection, curation, and processing. The warehouse is cloud-based and is designed to help inform business decisions. The platform prepares dental providers’ patient records and business data for artificial intelligence (AI) tools to unlock insights and efficiencies and identify smarter ways to serve patients.
Dentimax’s new Open Sensor is designed to work with major imaging software applications. The Open Sensor is said to offer high-quality x-rays while still maintaining a low cost that makes it accessible to every dental professional. Through it, dental professionals can add this to the office to enhance its digital imaging capabilities while boosting workflows.
This is about as apt a matchup as one could imagine to kick off this event. On one side is the #1 seed in this Quadrant, Open Data Warehouse from tab32, and standing in its way is the sensor that just wants to connect, #16 seed, the Open Sensor from Dentimax.
So which will it be, the Open Data Warehouse or the Open Sensor?
Seed 8 Vs. Seed 9
The Medit i700 Wireless offers a smooth and quick scanning experience backed by 60-Ghz wireless technology. All-day scanning is supported by a single battery with 1 hour of continuous scanning and up to 8 hours in standby. The camera captures up to 70 frames per second and features a reversible tip and wider scanning area, for easy, comfortable scanning at any angle.
The Philips Sonicare Cordless Power Flosser 3000 is designed to provide patients with a simple and effective way to remove up to 99.9% of plaque. The power flosser uses Quad Stream technology, a cross-shaped nozzle that creates 4 wide streams that provides a thorough cleaning along the gingival margin and is said to be 150% more effective than string floss at improving gingival health.
Here's an interesting matchup of products both of which tout their wireless design as a key feature. The #8 seed Medit i700 Wireless is cutting edge in the clinics while the #9 seed Philips Sonicare Cordless Power Flosser 3000 is high tech for home care.
Who wins, cordless or wireless?
Seed 5 Vs. Seed 12
The integration of VOCO materials to the Planmeca system is designed to help service a growing segment of CAD/CAM users. Grandio blocs are said to be high quality with many other milling systems and have excelled thanks to their toothlike properties, esthetics, and time-saving attributes. The nano-ceramic hybrid block eliminates the need for firing, saving time and money while simplifying optional characterization and intraoral repair.
Cloud Dentistry’s dental marketplace software is designed to help practices fill empty positions as well as match its network of dental professionals seeking permanent or temporary hygiene and dental assistant positions. Offices can see the number of bookings a professional had through the platform, along with the number of times they have been late or a no-show. Conversely, dental professionals can see practice reviews from their peers. Other features include interactive 2-way messaging. Professionals and practices with low ratings are removed from the platform to ensure quality matches.
The traditional trap game in a more well known tournament, will the same play out here as the line expansion of VOCO's nano-ceramic hybrid CAD/CAM blocks is matched against the latest dental staffing technology platform.
So which will it be, the Blocs or the Cloud?
Seed 4 Vs. Seed 13
OnX Tough is indicated for 3D printing dental prosthetics and utilizes SprintRay’s NanoFusion™ technology designed to help the resin deliver esthetic and durable dental prosthetics through its formulation of dense polymer chains. This durable resin is designed for same-day, chairside dentistry working with SprintRay’s digital workflows for maximum efficiency.
With the Denticon Patient Engagement tool, dental practices and organizations can automate appointment reminders, create marketing campaigns, customize patient messages, and communicate important information. The module is natively built into Denticon, allowing clinicians to begin use right away.
There is really no logic in how to decide between these two options. On the one side you have a durable 3D printing resin, and on the other side you have integrated, automated patient communications. Definitely a tough choice.
Who wins, Teeth or Patients?
Seed 6 Vs. Seed 11
The Quad-Tray Ultimate Posterior is designed to prevent impression distortion. It is made of lightweight and ultrarigid aluminum and features a 0.07-mm thick Ultra-Lock™ mesh that allows for secure fusion of the preparation and opposing impression. The distal bar is 2.6 mm thick to prevent impingement at the retromolar pad, and the distal ends are rounded to provide the right fit the first time. The tray also features low sidewalls to prevent palatal impingement and axial roll of the tray wall. The arch is wide, customizable, and easily accommodated to fit the right shape.
Columbia Dentoform by DENTALEZ®’s new surgical manikin, Surgio, is designed to offer dental students the kind of realism that bolsters their accuracy, particularly with simulated bone densities. Surgio’s oral cavity has lifelike soft tissue and accurate bone density, allowing dental students and continuing education learners to get hands-on experience with placing, tightening, and loosening implants as well as restorative work.
How important is an image? This is the matchup pitting the sensible and effective impression tray against the compellingly photogenic training model.
Is it the Quad-Tray Ultimate or Surgio?
Seed 3 Vs. Seed 14
Bien-Air’s Nova is designed to overcome the challenges of a traditional handpiece. The small head and slim handle enhance field of vision and guarantee easier access to the back of the mouth. With the Accu-Spray Quattro Mix system, it focuses 4 asymmetrical air/water sprays on the end of the bur with laser precision. Its stainless steel construction with PVD coating—4 times more resistant to shocks— and PVD coated chuck—doubling the handpiece life—makes it the lightest handpiece in the company’s range.
Dentai.AI Auto-Chart is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software that assists dental professionals in interpreting intraoral and extraoral 2D x-ray images by detecting and numbering teeth and missing teeth. It also aids in the detection of dental structures added through past restorative treatment, such as implants, crowns, pontics, endodontic treatments, and fillings, as well as their attributes and affected surfaces.
This face off features the odd pairing of a small, but mighty electric handpiece and cutting-edge software designed to help increase practice efficiency.
Who wins, the small handpiece or the AI assistant?
Seed 7 Vs. Seed 10
Dragonfly is a powered loupe with a wireless headlight fully integrated into the eyewear frame. It is designed to seamlessly combine Orascoptic’s industry-leading optics and award-winning headlight into a single, lightweight product. All electronics and batteries are completely contained within the custom-built frame itself, so there are no visible wires or cables. Clinicians can customize their Dragonfly with multiple magnification powers, different carrier lens shapes, and a variety of colors.
Allday Dry Mouth Gel is designed to combat dry mouth with a patented formula that includes a mucoadhesive hydrogel, which works with xylitol to relieve dry mouth. The gel is manufactured to a neutral pH level of approximately 7 and is saturated with 44% xylitol. Its unique hydrogel holds xylitol in the mouth for an extended period, prolonging its bacteriostatic benefits. It’s estimated that 25% of patients suffer from dry mouth. A dry mouth solution may help keep these patients from experiencing pain and discomfort while also providing protection from caries.
Here we find innovation in clinical equipment design matching up again innovation in patient care. Comfort and convenience for providers, or lasting symptom relief for the patients.
Time to choose between clinician comfort and patient relief.
Seed 2 Vs. Seed 15
Carbon is further evolving its idea-to-production platform with the all new M-Series 3D printers. This next-generation of printers comes in 2 models, the M3 and the M3 Max, that are designed to provide up to 2.5X throughput improvements for dental models compared to previous generations. The M3 printers are purpose-built with key features for dental labs such as faster printing, simplified experiences, more consistent parts, fast and easy installation, and a larger build area.
The TSX Implant is designed for immediate extraction and loading and is also integrated with ZimVie’s digital workflows for optimized protocols. It uses a hybrid of ZimVie’s dual acid-etched and MTX™ surface technologies for increased attention to the coronal and subcoronal regions. This new implant system is said to offer stability and precision with its progressive threads and taper. The TSX Implant is compatible with the Encode® Emergence 3-in-1 Healing Abutment, Impression Coping, and Scanbody System.
This is the battle of brevity as the products with the two shortest names in the tournament meet. Still while they're short on letters and numbers, this 3D printer and implant system are both cutting edge. Unfortunately only one can advance.
Who wins, Teeth or Patients?
