Dentsply Sirona World 2023 Delivers a Little of Everything

Sting performs at Dentsply Sirona World 2023 Friday night in Las Vegas. Image Credit: © Stan Goff

Dentsply Sirona World 2023 offered something for everyone this week in Las Vegas. The annual dental education event delivered plenty of education, great speakers, product launches, laughs, and world-class music.

The event managed to pull all of this off in just 3 days, kicking off Thursday at the MGM Grand and wrapping up Saturday night with a closing party at the Hakkasan Nightclub located at MGM Grand. In between, DS World 2023 offered attendees the opportunity to learn about the latest in digital dentistry, pick up continuing education credits from an impressive collection of speakers, become aware of how to help dentistry become more sustainable, and even participate in a record-breaking smile album milestone that also led to another donation from Dentsply Sirona to Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft-focused organization, with a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of essential care.

Friday morning’s general session included the second of 2 live surgeries at the event, as well as an inspiring talk from television star and businessman Kevin O’Leary. Known as “Mr. Wonderful” on the television show Shark Tank, O’Leary offered attendees valuable insight on investment and entrepreneurship. He talked about lessons he learned years ago, as well as key things businesses learned duringthe COVID-19 pandemic. O’Leary also shared his belief in the importance of oral health, noting that he has multiple dentists since he travels the world on a regular basis.

Over the years DS World has featured top-notch music performers, comedians and other entertainers, and 2023 proved to deliver more of the same. On Thursday night attendees were entertained and amazed by a variety show that featured magician Mat Franco, impressionist Frank Caliendo, and abstract performers Blue Man Group. Members of the Dentsply Sirona team and attendees at the performance were included in on-stage magic acts and the next day many were still trying to figure out how Franco pulled off some of his tricks. Caliendo, meanwhile, worked plenty of dental references into his act and his impressions, while Blue Man Group did what only they can do to awe those in attendance.

To learn about some of the products launched at DS World 2023 and for more on the event, click here.

As great as Thursday’s evening entertainment was, Friday’s concert by music legend Sting had the crowd standing, singing and dancing for much of the show which featured a number of hits from the 17-time Grammy Award winner. The performance included hits from The Police such as Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, King of Pain, and Message in a Bottle, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s before Sting went out on a solo career.

Saturday morning, Moataz Kasrawy, DDS, and Dr. Steven Mulligan, clinician, teacher and researcher based in U.K, and founding member of the FDI World Dental Federation’s Sustainability in Dentistry Task Team, and Dr. Rainer Seemann, VP Clinical Affairs and Workflows at Dentsply Sirona led the breakout session called “5 Tips to Make Your Practice More Sustainable.”

The trio acknowledged that dentistry is required to use its share of single-use products for infection control and safety purposes, but that steps can be taken today to substantially reduce the carbon footprint of practices. They admitted that dentistry does indeed contribute to climate change, but that there are methods in place today to help minimize problems going forward.

Georgia dentist Dr Kasrawy talked about how teledentistry can play a big role by providing care while limiting long commutes to dental practices and eliminating unnecessary drives. Other solutions include staff carpooling, public transportation and even the idea that dental practices can participate in bicycle riding services for patients and even a charging station for electric cars.

Another big factor is new, environmentally friendly packaging solutions from companies like Dentsply Sirona, plus the role digital dentistry plays in providing more efficient care and less patient visits.

Dr Mulligan urged the industry to make strides in using less plastic and added that simple steps such as turning off the lights in the practice during lunch breaks, and adding recycling bins to breakrooms can have a positive impact on reducing carbon footprints.

Dr Mulligan suggests all clinicians check out a tool kit available from the FDI World Federation at https://sustainability-platform.fdiworlddental.org/# for more information on how to reduce their dental practice's environmental impact and earn sustainability stripes.