Midwinter Meeting 2010

So much to mention...
Attended Cal Lab Meeting at the Westin.
It has become a "must belong to" organization for networking with the real movers and shakers in dental technology.
The State of the Industry reported by Judy Fishman contained all a lab or manufacturer needed to evaluate their present and future position in dental technology. Hats off to the entire staff at LMT for that insightful report. Nice to see the Millers, Chuck Yenker, Paul Vena, Ira Dickerman while there.
Wanda Hincher does a great job with this show and my hats off to her with any event she organizes.

Lmt events on Friday and Saturday were chock full of interesting stuff.
The buzz is all about implants and cad/cam, with a dose of removable prosthetics thrown in for good measure...gee what a surprise.

A plethora of education or product review offerings from all the manufacturers was presented.

WhipMix IDF Ribfest was great. Many, many people from the IDF were there to "rock the house". Wow, every table was humming with conversation and laughter, in between bites..
Those folks are truely "our Kentucky Friends"...

Look for Ribfest picture on my Facebook Page

On a personal note this was one of my busiest conferences. Many meetings squeezed between or during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all positive and motivating.

I was happy to have gotten to personally meet Dan Elfring, and Rob Teachout during and after my presentation. Both really good guys that I consider to be friends. Love your passion for what we do guys....

Im bummed that I dont have a picture of Dan and I, but we were constantly talking. I think the only reason I got one with Rob was because he stopped to say "see ya' and I had the camera out. Next time Dan.

Thanks to Pete Pizzi for the kind words and hosting the party in the Sheraton lobby, I only had a few minutes to spend, but Petes one of those special people in dental technology. Thanks for keepin it real Pete!

Next stop Indianapolis for the MidWest Spring Technical Meeting..

Bill "Yooper" Seward

The 2010 dental laboratory show season is upon us. The premier event, The CDS Midwinter Dental Convention starts on Thursday.
I anxiously wait to see those folks that together with me, do the circuit all year long. This is my seventh season of lecturing and exhibiting and it never gets old.

I pause to remember the turning point in my career some 8 years ago, when after 2 years of participating on the old NADL forum, Bill Seward and myself decided to take the idea of removable technicians exchanging ideas online and hold a technical forum live, concurrent with the Midwinter event.

Bill and I spoke for months formulating who would have what duties and what topics would be most relevent for those attending. I remember the fun Bill and I had exchanging ideas, throwing out some and expounding on others. We laughed, we exchanged views, we made joint decisions, and we agreed. The cool thing was that Bill and I had never really met in person, yet I felt like we had known each other for years. He was always the calmer side of the friendship, with me being a bit more hyper. I looked forward to talking and our dailey exchange of dental ideas on that old forum. About every 6 -9 weeks one of us would pick up the phone and run something by the other. Both of us would cradle the phones against our necks and grind away setting teeth, or finishing a denture, the whirl of the handpiece in each others background.

The forum eventually came and we finally met in person. It was so cool to have someone you had never met in person make you feel like we were childhood buddies.

The forum was held in a suite in the Sheraton. I had convinced one of the dental manufacturers to sponsor the event. About 25 people attended and they were technicians from all different demographics, yet they all had the common bond of working day to day in a dental laboratory. We spent about two hours that day complete strangers but by the end of the event we all telling "war stories" that technicians are known to tell when the doors are closed and theres not a DDS within earshot.
After the event that day, Bill and I split up, each meeting different people and attending separate venues.

Bill and I stayed in touch for years after that meeting in Chicago, with the ever occasional call and a story or question to pose. After the NADL forum lost steam Bill and I participated in several other forums, along with an occasional meet in Chicago for a Midwinter show, and phone calls in between. Over that time priorities in life changed, I got busy during the next years lecturing and travelling. Bill met the woman of his dreams, had a son, and bought half of the laboratory he and John worked at.

When Bill had the opportunity, he invited me to lecture on Mackinac Island for him and Johns dental seminar company. My gal Liz and I stayed 2 days on the island at the Grand with Bill and his wife Candy. Bill and I bonded again, both now in different places in our lives but still with the common ground of elevating what we do for a living, and a love for what we do. Although living hundreds of miles apart, Liz and I left there feeling as though we established a lifelong friendship with the Sewards.

The next year Bill and I crossed paths at the MACDL meeting in Detroit. He came down to meet up, since I was lecturing and he needed the credits to maintain his CDT. We met up with Bruce Keeling, and John Bach the night before the show and had an outstanding dinner. Four`technicians talking "tech" all dinner long swapping stories and laughing. Bill in his always gracious way wanted to pick up dinner, because as he said "we were guests in his state". Of course we didnt allow it, but it was just Bills way to offer. That was 2008.

During the Christmas 2008 renewed by our recent MACDL experience, we started talking about trying to capture lighting in a bottle again with another forum at the Midwinter. We hashed out some ideas on topics and sponsors, and said we would talk about it further as the year progressed.
Later, in May 2009 I received a phone call from Bills buddy John. Bill had passed away after laying down to rest after a full day of celebrating mothers day with his wife and son Zack. It floored me. Over the months I mourned for Bill and his wife and child. Life is so fragile and many times so unfair.
So, the purpose of this post, is just to share Bills influence on me, and to dedicate my 2010 lecture season to his memory, in place of the live forum we had planned to hold together.

Forums

It never ceases to amaze me how easy people take offense when pressed publicly on forums.

Isnt the function of a forum to explore/air all angles of an issue or topic? I dont believe I have ever posted a recommendation or comment that didnt evoke some kind of response to the contrary of what I was commenting or talking about. Thats cool, as it is expected that not everyone will agree with you or care about what your feel.

Some advice for those who make blanket statements and then get defensive when pressed to defend their position or comments. Grow thicker skin, know your audience, and while your at it, polish up on your grammar and typing skills.

And remember, its just conversation.

More on Technology

There was a discussion about incorporation of technology into the removable lab from a forum I track.

My input:

Anything you incorporate into your business must fit the clients you seek and service. The demographic I seek and service is probably different than many, maybe not.

My clients dont use me because I own the latest technology, they call and use me because I consistently provide something better than others. When I provide a new service its not dependant on a new purchase but rather incorporation of a new technique. That way I eliminate 95% of the competition who would rather buy themselves a value, than develop one.

Anyone can spend the money, few have the discipline to spend the time to develop and refine something.

Its funny, in a world wrought with automation, where everything is so fast, people still wait 90 days to take delivery of handcrafted amish furniture even though they could go to Value City and have furniture tomorrow.

carry on

Travel Observations

After 8 years, why do people still bitch at the TSA station because they have to take off their shoes, pull out their computers, display their liquids, take off their sports coats, belts, and watches? Even if you dont travel much and are not that versed with the protocols, dont you see the people in front of you doing so?

Yesterday, I traveled through Midway airport. They have an expert traveler line for those that travel as part of their job and know the drill. Dont be insulted or feel demeaned if you decide you dont qualify as a savy traveler. Just use the regular traveler line so us who need to hit a gate running, can do so. Asking if you have to take off your shoes, or stacking your belt and sportscoat on your laptop are dead give aways that your going to holdup things when you are instructed to put your laptop in a bin all by itself.

Kudos to TSA for having the patience to put up with these knuckleheads from minute to minute.

Cautiously optimistic

It sure is exciting to see the attention removable prosthetics is getting out there. I must get a call a week from fixed laboratories looking to open up a denture dept.
Although its exciting, I am cautiously optimistic as to whether this is good or bad overall. It seems most calling think that all you have to do is buy equipment and offer the service, even though they haven't made a denture in 20 years or better.

Many ask, whats the fastest way to make a denture? Yikes, continue making your crowns and stay out of the denture specialty! There are already too many who think that the best way to make dentures is fast and dirty. There is a perfect opportunity to elevate the denture specialty, and rise above the mediocrity, but instead people are looking to get in for a fast buck. Sure, there are instances when something is critical and a case is time sensitive, but these should be the exception, not the rule. 8 hours, 2 hours, 20 minutes, 5 minutes when is enough, enough?

By the way, plates are something you eat off of, not something you eat with. Its tissue, not gums, pontic, not dummy tooth. You owned a dental lab for 20 years and still don't know the vernacular?

Technobabble

Maybe I am slower than most when it comes to embracing new technology in our profession. I dont reject it, and I definitely understand its the wave of the future. I am slower to embrace and implement because I see the trap of being caught up in it so much, that the basics become less practiced, less refined, and seemingly less important.

The pace of learning and implementing inherent in humans doesnt change, but the pace we are bombarded with new information and technology has. There are only so many things a human being can disimilate and digest in a given period of time for it to be effectively utilized. I guess I tend to stand back, take a deep breath, and figure out whats useful for me, and discard what I feel is unapplicable.

I am careful not to get caught up in information anxiety. Information anxiety is that ever widening gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand.

Retrospect

Twenty-five years ago dentures were considered a failed treatment by most in dentistry. In school, nobody cared to pick it as their specialty, opting for the white smock mentality of pfms and the image of wanting to be like Willi Geller, or Tanaka.

I remember being asked why I would ever pick removable when I could just as easily have done well in fixed. At the time it was all about the demographics of an aging denture technician population, the growing population of baby boomers and their eventual increased need for removable prosthetic treatment. Im glad that I looked beyond 5 years and made the future realization of the growing need we experience today for removable prosthetics..

With that being said, I never would have ever thought that implant treatment would have pushed removable prosthetics to the esthetic realization we are seeing today. With implant retained or supported prosthetics, emphasis is greater than ever to fufill the promise of the treatment. No longer is just a denture acceptable when coupled with the time and expense of placing implants.
A really cool side effect of all this is that conventional denture treatment is being caught up in the esthetic action as well.

Natural?

Doesnt anyone fabricating dentures study what actual tissue looks like? I see more and more dentures with tissue/wax that looks puffy and swollen. I am still searching for pictures of real mouths that look this way.
Natural tissue in 90% of the populace have very conservative emenencia, the other 10% are more skeletal, but not puffy and inflamed.
Im convinced that its more for the technicians ego to over exaggerate the contours rather than for the sake of looking natural. I would love to post some pictues to example what I mean. Maybe another day...

Yeah, Im opinionated, but its my blog, so deal with it.