Meeting review: AACD 2016

Thursday’s sessions focused primarily on treatment planning, including diagnosis, airway management and orthodontics. Friday’s “implementation” theme included sessions on orthodontic and surgical options as well as immediate implant replacement. The “realization” theme on Saturday featured sessions on restorative implementation.

Of course, the annual AACD scientific session was designed to be more than just a destination to improve your education. It was also designed to be entertaining and memorable, especially when it comes to the welcome receptions.

In past years, when you attended an annual AACD scientific session, your general registration tuition always included all lectures and applicable hands-on workshops, continental breakfasts and exhibit hall networking lunches and social hours, the general sessions, exhibit hall access and the opening welcome reception. This year, along with all those things just mentioned, organizers also gave attendees an entry ticket to the Celebration of Excellence Gala.

This social event included food, dancing, recognition of the newly accredited members and accredited fellows, Evy awards presentations and the inauguration of AACD’s new president. The gala was held at the Fairmont Royal York on Saturday evening. Attire was black-tie optional.

The meeting offered multitudes of courses and rows of exhibitors, all offering the latest in products and technology designed to help make your practice more effective, efficient and just overall better.

For instance, over in the Shofu booth, attendees could take a look at the EyeSpecial C-II. This digital camera was designed with the dentist in mind and includes such features as a 12 mega-pixel sensor, anti-shake filters and a unique FlashMatic module, which is a proprietary system of ring and dual-point flashes. Shofu says the camera is intended to produce predictable and consistent clinical photography for case documentation, lab collaboration and patient education while being highly intuitive and user friendly.

Designs for Vision presented its new LED DayLite WireLess, which not only frees you from being tethered to a battery pack, but the simple modular design also uncouples the light from a specific frame or single pair of loupes. The self-contained headlight can integrate with various platforms, including your existing loupes, safety eyewear, lightweight headbands and future loupes or eyewear purchases.

Over at the Kettenbach booth, attendees could learn about the Panasil line of products. Panasil is an addition-curing, elastomeric, poly-vinyl, siloxane precision impression material. According to the company, the low to very low viscosity of these products offer clinicians precise results, whether using the two-step impression technique or the one-step double-mix technique. The products are available in various viscosities to cover a wide variety of different procedural requirements.

Another company worth taking a look at was Heraeus Kulzer, where dental professionals could catch a demonstration of the Pala Digital Denture system. This technology uses computer-aided design and 3-D software to model dentures for an excellent fit with great esthetics that practices can deliver to their patients two times faster than conventional systems, according to the company. The Pala Digital Denture system allows the dentist to capture the final impression, bite, vertical dimension and centric relation in a single-patient visit, compared to three visits with conventional systems. Once the lab receives the impression, it is scanned and forwarded to Heraeus Kulzer, which creates 3-D renderings and crafts the final denture. The lab examines the denture and sends it to the dentist, who places it with the patient.

As always, dentists and laboratory technicians had the opportunity to learn the latest techniques in a wide variety of in-depth hands-on workshops, other more formal presentations and by visiting with the myriad booths in the exhibit hall.