The Group Dentistry Now Show Hits the Road for Ivoclar Vivadent’s Dental Innovation Tour

2021 is the year of innovation! After over a year of virtual meetings and canceled in person dental meetings, Ivoclar Vivadent is bringing the show to your emerging dental group or DSO.

The Dental Innovation Tour is on the road and visiting 40 cities with it’s 40-foot mobile showroom featuring their latest digital technologies, equipment and best in class restorative materials that are defining the future of dentistry. Your dental group can also take advantage of in person FREE CE courses. Experience the energy and innovation for yourself – schedule your tour HERE.

Group Dentistry Now had the opportunity to take a tour of the leading-edge showroom, experience the latest technology in scanning, as well as Ivoclar’s material advancements. Bill Neumann also had the opportunity to sit down with the President of Ivoclar Vivadent, Christian Brutzer, to discuss his global perspective on everything from COVID-19 to the growth of DSOs and his reasoning behind Ivoclar Vivadent’s investment in the Dental Innovation mobile showroom. Bill also spoke with John Stack, Vice President of DSO Sales. John discusses his take on the explosive acceleration of dental platforms in North America and how he and the team at Ivoclar Vivadent are addressing the unique needs of multi-site dental practices and DSOs with the DSO Advantage program. Finally, Donald Bell, Vice President of Product Marketing and John Stack take us on a tour of the the Dental Innovation mobile showroom.


Watch the Christian Brutzer and John Stack interviews plus the Dental Innovation Mobile Showroom Tour with Don Bell


Watch the interview with the President of Ivoclar Vivadent, Christian Brutzer


Watch the interview with VP of DSO Sales, John Stack


Take the Tour of the Dental Innovation Mobile Showroom with Donald Bell and John Stack


TRANSCIPT:

Bill Neumann:

Hi, everybody. I’m Bill Neumann, and welcome to the Group Dentistry Now Show. Really happy to be out and about for first time in over a year, I think. We normally do podcasts or webinars, and everything’s virtual, but we’re actually here in Dallas. I’m joined with Christian Brutzer, and he is the president of Ivoclar Vivadent. Thanks for being here, Christian. Welcome.

Christian Brutzer:

Thanks, Bill, for joining us and giving us the opportunity to show you what we brought along to Dallas.

Bill Neumann:

Tell us a little bit about how you get this message out about all this great technology, these new products. Zoom, you could do that, but what else?

Christian Brutzer:

You can’t describe over Zoom the handling properties of a composite to a dentist. It just doesn’t fly. One way was, we did a hands-on seminar where we sent, actually, the kits to the dentists that wanted to participate. They have them at home, the instructor sits in a Zoom meeting, and we do it as we play. But what about hardware? I can’t send to our dentists a Bluephase, that’s a little bit on the expensive side.

Christian Brutzer:

We were launching mills into the pandemic. We were launching scanners into the pandemic. We were launching a highly innovative composite material, direct filling material, into the pandemic. We decided to bring this to the customers and have them, without having to travel far, have a look-see. Our experts are there. We do this in a socially distant manner, in a safe manner, meeting there. We have something to drink and still be safe. That was our way how to bring innovation.

Bill Neumann:

That’s a great idea. I think people are really going to appreciate it. I got a sneak peek of it yesterday.

Bill Neumann:

We’re starting off in Dallas. Tell us a little bit about the cities, number of cities, and how long this tour is going to take.

Christian Brutzer:

This is a kickoff. Why are we going to Dallas of all places when we are an Amherst based, New York based company? It has to do with the weather. We want to have a safe outdoor environment, one you can enjoy. Yesterday evening, we had a beautiful outside reception with music in front of the bus. Texas was the natural choice.

Christian Brutzer:

After Dallas, we will go into 39 further cities around the United States and Canada. We hope to finish this tour until Christmas this year. Then we most probably go into hiatus. Obviously, by late fall, we will ask ourselves, I mean, at this point it is an idea, did this idea fly? If yes, we will continue.

Bill Neumann:

It’s a great idea. The fact that you’re able to do things outside and follow the good weather across the country.

Christian Brutzer:

I mean, on a very personal way, I couldn’t think of a better way to have my first, let’s say flight, not to the office, but back to an event and really be out there and have customers around, seeing the excitement, listening to them, listening to their challenges. It’s for me a great start into the summer of 2021.

Bill Neumann:

Let’s hope it continues on. I do have one last question for you. Talk a little bit about what you see, Christian, see the progression of really the change in these large groups and DSOs.

Christian Brutzer:

What we did is, we looked at the various DSOs and their potential pain points. One of the things that we clearly identified, it’s not just a product that they want to buy at a certain price, but it’s really the whole workflow.

Bill Neumann:

Absolutely.

Christian Brutzer:

What we tried to do as a specialized team is to create solutions that actually addresses pain points. Whether it’s education of the staff, whether it’s lean consulting, how workflows in a practice can be organized, but also, giving the materials at price points that meets their needs as a major buyer. DSOs in the future will play an important role in working with insurance companies, with governments, to address issues of access to healthcare, especially to oral health.

Bill Neumann:

Next up, we’re actually going to bring John Stack in who heads up your DSO business in North America. He’s going to talk a little bit about the strategy, what he’s seeing in North America. Then we’re going to go take a tour and check things out, and see some of the new technology that you’ve been working on for years. Like you said, you didn’t stop during COVID.

Bill Neumann:

Thank you, Christian Brutzer for joining us.

Christian Brutzer:

Thank you Bill.

Bill Neumann:

I’m Bill Neumann and this is the Group Dentistry Now Show.

Bill Neumann:

We’re back on the road with the Group Dentistry Now Show. We are here with John Stack who heads up the DSO market for Ivoclar Vivadent in North America. Hey, John, good to see you.

John Stack:

Good to see you too, Bill. Thank you for being a part of our first stop here in Plano, Texas with the Innovations Tour, we really appreciate you making the trip.

Bill Neumann:

So you’re touring around Texas right now and you’re going to be around the country, in what, 40 some odd cities?

John Stack:

Yeah. In addition to Plano, another 39 after this is planned. What a great way, as Christian mentioned earlier, how do you take your technology to the people when the normal trade show circuit is not functioning and we have this pandemic to deal with. We all want to be safe, but we also want to make sure that the technology that we worked so hard on over the past few years makes its way into the labs and into the dentist world. The best way to do that is to take it to the streets. That’s what we’ve done.

Bill Neumann:

On the road, taking it to the streets.

John Stack:

Taking it to the streets.

Bill Neumann:

Nice to be out after over a year of not being out. It’s good to see your customers again.

John Stack:

Yeah, it sure is. For the last 12 months we’ve been kind of sequestered to our home offices, and Zooms and Skypes and video calls. So this was really great to be out here and able to spend some safe, but quality, time with our customers.

Bill Neumann:

Obviously it’s an important market for Ivoclar, right? Group practice and DSOs.

John Stack:

Sure is.

Bill Neumann:

Let’s talk a little bit about that importance and what your strategies are as an organization.

John Stack:

We recognized it early on and we’ve always done pretty well in this space. Clearly in our company we delineate between the lab customers and the dentist customers. Both of these are important in this space. Both customers are important. Getting them to work together, and the synergies that exist, that’s even more important. They clearly are important, have always been important to us. Now, we’d launched a new campaign in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, called the DSO Advantage. This is a program aimed at groups, through authorized dealer agreements and connections, to actually provide clear and transparent support mechanisms, pricing, even a special line of products that is specifically targeted for the DSO audience.

Bill Neumann:

This was recent? This was 2020?

John Stack:

We launched in the first part of 2020. When the pandemic hit, we clearly took a focus toward let’s get as many groups signed up as we can for the program, because there is a group sign up procedure as part of the transparency. It’s really our sales team that separates us from the competition, and the product portfolio is absolutely incredible. It’s wide and it’s deep. The second thing is, we recognize that each DSO may have a different desire. Not every DSO is built the same way or has the same level of importance placed on education, support, or technology.

Bill Neumann:

It is really impressive, I think, how the industry as a whole has bounced back when there was some dire predictions of 50% to 60% loss in revenue. Thank goodness that that didn’t transpire.

John Stack:

We’ve seen a really nice rebound in our business. I think that’s partly due to the new program, the groups that are now registered with us and signed up for the program, and, I think, some of the benefits that it can provide. Our sales people are really excited about the program as well.

Bill Neumann:

If an emerging group or a large DSO that’s not part of the program wants to find out more or get signed up, how do they do that?

John Stack:

They just contact their Ivoclar Vivadent rep, or ask their authorized dealer rep. We have a web portal where if you’re a DSO, you can sign up right online. It takes about 10 minutes and 15 pieces of information and you’re signed up for the program. It’s pretty simple.

Bill Neumann:

Well, great. I think I’m ready to take that tour, go out and check out [the new innovation 00:10:02].

John Stack:

Please, let’s go.

Donald Bell:

The clinical side really featuring a couple of key things. Our digital workflow; we have a partnership, a collaboration with 3Shape for their front end scanner, TRIOS scanner, connected to a design studio, to our ProgaMill One filling system. Very compact system. Their design studio software meshes as a validated partner to our CAM software. This really functions as a full CAD/CAM system; scan, design, mill. It’s very smooth. Right after you scan and design the restoration, we’ll send it to the mill. Everything that you see, from operation of the mill itself that actually runs off a small tablet, an iPad mini, it allows you to control tool changes, load blocks, actually organize jobs, change the order, and really track, also, the status of the mill restorations. It’s a pretty nice system, very small, it’s a 5-Axis mill. This is a self-contained system. This contains a small compressor, a reservoir for the filling fluids, everything contained in this unit that you see here today for about 90 pounds. Very small, compact system.

Donald Bell:

Completing the full workflow for us is a program CS2 that allows you to fire a lithium based silicone cast in about 15 minutes or so. It’s a very fast, efficient process. Then, from scan, design, mill, fire, we see our very own prosthetic system. We’re able to provide a great digital workflow.

Donald Bell:

On the other side of the vehicle is our direct restorative workflow. We really feature here our new materials. We launched a new composite material called Tetric Line. We also have an efficient aesthetic system, a three second power-fill system, and adhesion reversal pens. It’s a really nice system for direct restoratives. Very fast, very efficient, very aesthetic. That’s really the focus of most of the workflows that you’ll see from us are efficiency, but always focused on is aesthetics and final results. It’s a really nice system, similar to the areas of the digital, really trying to focus on the complete workflow. Prep, [pen down 00:12:14] for the adhesive, and then go through light-curing process, place composite, and light cure again. Again, very efficient.

John Stack:

What we have here, we have, as Don was mentioning, a complete workflow for indirect restorative dentistry, as well as direct restorative dentistry. We have two different cements. We also have our adhesion reversal in a bottle form. All available in syringe delivery, and cap and fill delivery. All the materials featured here are latest, greatest, patented technologies, with photo initiators and the fast cure times for composites. Again, to Don’s point, really focused on workflow, speed, efficiency, and the fact that it can work, whether in the hands of a very experienced dentist, or a relatively new dentist that doesn’t have the same level of experience.

Donald Bell:

We are actually going to cut across now to the lab side, focused materials and systems.

Donald Bell:

A very similar concept in terms of workflow. This site really features a complete workflow system from lab site [schematics 00:13:26] with 3Shape 3D series scanners. From this point, it really allows you to scan-design with 3Shape software, to production processes. We feature our new PR5, which is our printer system, which allows you to go print, to clean and cure select materials in our portfolio.

Donald Bell:

You can see here, we’ve got some boxes that are actually our splint material, our base plate, as it allows you a build plate, allows you to build a variety of different types of configurations, the splints in this case. This holder actually carries over from, and moves from, the printer, and then through the clean and the cure process, through each step. This allows you to handle the materials in a very efficient way, and also really a more professional way, instead of having separate systems that aren’t really complete.

Donald Bell:

A lot of companies sell a printer only, without the components for clean and cure, and that’s really critical from a workflow standpoint. To get final product that are really completely done under one system, these all work together seamlessly. Our printer features splints, models, and wax materials for now, and then with the ability to add onto that as we go forward.

Donald Bell:

From another production site, we also have the ability to move into milling. We’re featuring our bookends of our portfolio. We offer four milling systems right now. PrograMill DRY is new to our work portfolio. That’s our smallest version, just for dry, for milling and zirconia. The PM7, obviously a larger technology with more capability; eight-disc changer, highly automated, very fast. It also allows you to do a variety of materials; Chromium cobalt, PMMA. It’s a built in ionizer to be to specific, our denture, obviously, though, zirconia and a variety of other materials. This is our high type system.

Donald Bell:

The intent of what we’re trying to show amongst everything else is, we want to be able to show a finished product more than anything, so the technology is great. When you go scan design, we are allowed, if we can kind of feature our new single disc product in a very simple form that allows you to create a denture out of one mill. This system is very unique in terms of what we can do from a technology standpoint. It allows us to create one denture in one cast, in one milling process. Highly automated. It makes a really well fitted denture, very little adjustments required. Also, as you can see, it creates really beautiful aesthetics. The material, that final restoration, looks really amazing, and the fits are phenomenal.

Donald Bell:

Likewise, we launched, not too long ago, our Tetric Prime. Prime was, from our standpoint, really elevated the zirconia category when we developed it. We feature gradient technology which is a natural radiation of translucency and color, in zirconia materials. It’s high strength, over 1200 megapascals of strength, and high fracture toughness, which means you can use it from single units to full arch, and really get the layered ceramic type of appearance to the restoration. Those can be milled in any of our mills, or any mill that accepts a [98F 00:16:44] millimeter disc. It creates a really beautiful restoration. Again, very much similar along the lines of high productivity and efficiency, but also featuring great aesthetics.

Donald Bell:

It’s been a really interesting journey for us with some of these new a pieces of technology. We’ve launched a lot in last year, and half was done during a pandemic. This vehicle and the tour has really giving us the ability to get it in front of people again in the live way. Where you can see the equipment, see the products that are being produced, and really kind of get an experience of it.

 

 

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