Editor's Note: Highlights from the 2020 Chicago Midwinter Meeting

PinkWave curing light from Apex Dental Materials—This light emits pink light instead of blue. This is intended to reduce the risk of pulpal damage to the tooth and polymerization shrinkage of the material being cured, all while completely polymerizing composite materials. This light has a large curing area and is lightweight, cordless, and sleek. In addition, there is a built-in transilluminator.

Skyce tooth jewels from Ivoclar Vivadent—These are shiny little jewels that are bonded to the labial surface of an anterior tooth to add a little “bling” to a smile. I had the honor of being asked to apply tooth jewels at Ivoclar’s booth during Chicago Midwinter this year. I wasn’t sure how these would be received by the dental, dental hygiene, and dental assisting communities, but I was blown away by the response. People lined up and waited for over two hours to have a Skyce applied to their tooth—and they sure were adorable!

LumiCare caries diagnostic rinse from Greenmark Biomedical—In Chicago, we even had the opportunity to see some products that were not commercially available yet. LumiCare is a rinse that contains charged nanoparticles that are attracted to negatively charged phosphate ions on demineralized teeth. When a blue light is shined onto a tooth and viewed through an orange filter (orange safety glasses or the orange shield), early caries will illuminate! The concept is that caries can be identified earlier than they could using traditional methods...and if correct reparative therapies are put into place, perhaps we can preserve more natural tooth structure.

I am also on the committee that selects the Cellerant Best of Class Technology Awards. Each year, I join Dr. Lou Shuman and some of dentistry's leading technology experts—Drs. Chris Salierno, John Flucke, Paul Feuerstein, Marty Jablow—to select the winners. This year, after hours of deliberation, we made our final decisions. If you want to know who has been identified as the best emerging and disruptive technologies of 2020, you will have to wait! The winners haven’t been announced yet...but you can see the 2019 winners here.

These are just a few highlights from the Chicago Midwinter Meeting. Fortunately, you don’t have to attend every single dental conference to have some of these technologies brought to you. Subscribe to the Product Navigator newsletter to stay on top of the latest technologies, techniques, and materials. 

That's all for this editor's note—make it a great day!

Pam

Pamela Maragliano-Muniz, DMD, is the editor of DentistryIQ. Based in Salem, Massachusetts, Dr. Maragliano-Muniz began her clinical career as a dental hygienist. She went on to attend Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, where she earned her doctorate in dental medicine. She then attended the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Dental Medicine, where she became board-certified in prosthodontics. Dr. Maragliano-Muniz owns a private practice, Salem Dental Arts, and lectures on a variety of clinical topics.

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