We enjoyed an extremely busy couple of days at the Dentistry Show on Friday and Saturday in Birmingham. This year we didn’t have a stand, so we did a lot of walking, talking and listening of course…...

A few initial thoughts and products that caught the eye:-

The Full Picture

In a room of a few thousand people, it always intrigues me the different impressions people get from the show. “Fantastic show”, “our stand has been so busy” “selling loads of gear” and then you move about 3 feet to the next stand and the reaction is totally different “waste of time”, “not as busy as last year” “this part of the room isn’t getting any footfall” so when stepping back and looking at the full picture, I reckon it is somewhere in the middle. The show was certainly busy but it is not for everyone.

Takeaway - it is not always about following the crowd. This kind of show works for some companies but not all.

Closer Still

Closer Still Media, have built an amazing business, which is demonstrated by the fact that the show attracts a huge number of exhibitors, speakers and visitors. As you will know from previous blogs, GDPUK have not always had the best experience at the Dentistry Show but we must say that it has a great spirit, atmosphere and 2 days seems a perfect amount of time.

Well done to all the Dentistry Show team and the wider Closer Still Media team which is now over 200 people strong. They obviously understand the formula to produce extremely successful events.

Internet of Things

Last year we reported on Oral-B’s move into connected toothbrushes and now Philips have followed with the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart which not only is incredibly smart with its matt black handle, black brush head and charge in glass technology, it also uses connected technology to inspire and motivate patients to take better care of their oral health. I believe it will be available to consumers in the next few months. Great to see dentistry leading the way in connected devices and improving oral-health at the same time.

Good to Great

“Good to Great” is a journey to greater business prosperity for dentists, which has been underpinned in the last 12 months by the introduction of SoE’s Customer Success Programme. (Software of Excellence). The Good to Great Challenge encourages dentists to think more clearly about how they can optimise their performance and maximise revenue and provides a vehicle by which dentists can track and follow the progress of likeminded dental practices. More information available here - http://www.g2gchallenge.com/ 

Will be interesting to see how many practices get involved in this challenge and what affect it has on their practice over the 12 months.

Social

The show is great for networking which is demonstrated by the thousands of people attending and the huge queues at the Starbucks just outside hall 5! I really enjoyed this element of the show, fantastic to catch up with so many people from all areas of the profession.

A few other mentions and thoughts

• The Simply Health juice drinks were delicious and perfect after a few beers on the Friday evening. I am sure anyone who attended the Dental Awards or the Dental Circle party also found those drinks refreshing :)
• Prem at Quick Straight Teeth certainly caught the eye but I know this has been covered elsewhere on social media :)
• The dental industry certainly seemed positive overall, digital is growing. Innovation isn't always the quickest in dentistry compared to other sectors but some of the options and resources available to a dentist just starting their dental practice journey are endless.
• The 3M intraoral mobile tablet scanner is extremely clever and could be excellent for interaction with your patient. Info here.

Thanks for reading and hopefully see you at the BDA Conference in a couple of weeks. Get in touch if you would like to meet up or need some advice on the best restaurants in Manchester.

Last week saw the launch of the latest Oral-B toothbrush at the BDA Conference and I am pleased to see that they have gone even further down the path of the “internet of things” and improved their technology even further with the latest Genius brush.

Previously I wrote a blog in 2014 entitled “Dentistry embraces the Internet of Things”, when Oral-B launched their first brush connected to an app.

So 2 years on, the boffins at Oral-B have taken all the best features of the Bluetooth brush and made a number of considerable improvements.

• The brush still works alongside the App. The app now tracks brushing habits and shows the user how to brush all zones in the mouth equally and evenly, which is a real game changer. No longer do you have an excuse of missing an area of your mouth.

• The app has gamification, the user gets challenges to improve brushing habits.

• Each users can partner with their dental professional through the Professional Guidance feature that provides customised care and a user can share data with their dental professional.

• The app, also contains in-app entertainment, the app provides news, weather and oral care tips.

• The brush comes with a stylish case, as well as a smartphone holder that fits to the user's bathroom mirror and lets the user know how they are doing via the app. The app is therefore straight ahead of the user’s eyeline.  

• The lithium battery offers longer battery life and a lighter toothbrush!

• The Triple Pressure Sensor technology protects gums from over aggressive brushing.

• The brushes are now customisable with 12 colours available, except red which is used when the user applies too much pressure.

• The user tells the app which hand you use to brush your teeth because they will then analyse the data accordingly and the app will understand why certain areas are missed.

All these clever features are an exciting way for you to help your patients improve their oral care and with some of the features you can even check what they are doing and which areas are being missed!

Further information about the brush can be found here - http://oralb.com/en-us/GENIUS

It is very exciting to see that dentistry has continued to embrace the internet of things and that toothbrushes are part of the connected home that we will see more and more over the next few years. This new brush is not only easy to use and lighter to hold, it also has a number of benefits that help improve our oral health…. Which is always a good thing.

The brush really is “Genius by name, Genius by nature”.

The Oral-B Genius will be available to the public from July.

Recently in the technology & digital world there has been a lot of talk about the “Internet of Things”.  The IoT is a scenario in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. This has evolved from the coming together of wireless technology, modern electronics and of course the internet.

So examples of the internet of things in the real world are a phone connected watch, Google glasses or a fridge that tells you when you are low on milk. The ideas and opportunities are endless, any natural or man-made object, as long as it is assigned with an IP address and has the ability to transfer data over a network becomes a part of the Internet of Things.

Yesterday I went to a press launch by Oral-B at the BDA Conference. Oral-B will be introducing a new electric toothbrush to the market in May 2014. What caught my attention is the fact that it will have Bluetooth built in and will connect to its own app. This means that your tooth brushing can be recorded and even checked by your dentist to make sure you are accessing the correct areas. This recording of data will personalise your brushing routine and will also allow the dental professional to programme their patients’ brushing routines in the app to improve brushing behaviours & techniques. Oral-B claim this will help drive patient compliance, which determines success of a large part of future dental appointments.

So not only will this innovation potentially improve oral health it is also a great example of an everyday appliance working alongside the internet and being an early adopter of the “internet of things”. I believe this could be an exciting development in dentistry and shows plenty of innovation. We look forward to seeing how the app will develop plus also it got us thinking about what will be the next piece of dental technology that improves patient care and improves the daily routine? Any ideas?