Lectures started at 9am this morning, a few slightly tired eyes around the room I noticed!
What really impresses me about Ivoclar is their R&D commitment. They have a team of 80 research and development staff spending all day creating, tinkering, improving and above all, listening to the changing needs of the profession. I don't believe there's a company out there in the dental sector with this level of commitment.
Coupled with their international education departments and programme, they really do feel like partners in dentistry, almost part of the team.
One simple example of this is during one of the workshops one of our UK team came up with an idea for an enhanced product that would work synergistically with Bulk Fill. It didnt take long for that idea to reach the product development team, starting a whole load of excited beard scratching and the sound of brain cogs working.
Other ideas about surgical access aids for implant surgery were discussed over dinner and this again was quickly passed on.
It's one thing to develop products that you think people might need, it's another to develop products whilst listening to Opinion Leaders who actually know what they want and what can work. Very impressive.
After coffee we broke into workshop groups. The first workshop had all the ingredients of Bulk Fill composites laid out like a cookery program and it was incredible to see and feel these components, giving us a greater understanding of why they are used, and what happens when you omit certain things. This was a serious highlight for me.
Our second workshop was a hands on demonstration of the curing depth of bulk fill composite. It's quite impressive to see a material looking as dense as a regular composite but getting test curing depths of 7mm with only 10 seconds of curing.
Our final workshop was testing firsthand the chemical in the composite that slows down the setting in natural light, allowing us much more time to place and shape our single layer, meaning less polishing required afterwards.
It does go to show that when sales companies say "this product does X,Y and Z" we should not always respond with immediate cynicism but we can embrace the work these guys do that of course makes them profitable and successful companies, but also makes our lives so much easier and more worry free.
Thank you so much Ivoclar for inviting me to this amazing event and after spending 2 days writing copious notes, it's time to put some exciting things into place in not only my lectures but my daily practice.
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