Launched eight years ago, the Best of Class Technology Awards recognize innovative dental products that, according to their creator Dr. Lou Shuman, DMD, CAGS, “set a quality standard in their respective categories.”

How does an innovation earn the designation?

Individually, panel members spend countless hours each year researching practice-changing technologies, according to cellerantconsulting.com. Afterward, at every Chicago Midwinter Meeting, a board convenes, dedicates time reviewing the research, debating the characteristics that define what it means for a product to earn the name Best of Class.

Dr. John Flucke

Recently, Dr. John Flucke announced the 2016 Best of Class Technology Award recipients in Dental Products Report June edition, as follows:

3Shape TRIOS
AMD LASERS LiteTouch
AMD LASERS Picasso
Bien-Air iOptima/iChiropro
Dentrix Ascend
DEXIS CariVu
Doxa Ceramir C&B
HR for Health
Kerr SonicFill 2
LED VELscope Vx with iPod Touch
MMG Fusion
Orascoptic EyeZoom
Orascoptic Spark
Shofu EyeSpecial C-II
Solutionreach
Vatech Green CT 10×8
WEO Media
Zipwhip

In 2015, Incisal Edge dental lifestyle magazine readers heard from several doctors whose comments spoke volumes about the Vatech PaX-i3D Green CT 10×8, which is featured among the 2016 Best of Class Technology Award recipients.

Among them, Dr. Ibrahim Alhussain at Tysons West Orthodontics in Vienna, Virginia and Dr. Michael Rogers at Complete Health Dentistry of NEPA, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Two weeks after the Green CT was delivered to his practice, Dr. Rogers spotted significant calcification in an older patient’s carotid artery during a routine 3D scan. Dr. Rogers recommended immediate medical attention, and his patient was able to get prompt care.

“The GreenCT let us see what we didn’t realize was there and save our patient from a potential heart attack or stroke,” Dr. Rogers told Incisal Edge. “It has given us the ability to partner with our local physicians in viewing dentistry and medicine as an integral part of patients’ overall well-being.”

Dr. Alhussain’s unit was one of the first GreenCT installed in the U.S.; its efficient output protects both patient and clinician and produces superb images in a rapid scan time of just 5.9 seconds for a 3D image and 0.8 seconds for a for a cephalometric scan.

He said parents concerned about the effects of radiation on their kids love it. “As health providers, we must abide by the ALARA principle: As Low as Reasonably Achievable,” said Dr. Alhussain, referring to the delicate balance between radiation level and image clarity.

“Children and adolescents, who form the majority of orthodontic patients, are more radiosensitive than adults. The GreenCT just made sense.”

Learn more about the 2016 Best of Class Technology Award recipients at: https://cellerantconsulting.com/index.asp?N=Cellerant-Consulting-Group-Dr-Lou-Shuman-Best-of-Class-2016&C=772&P=18733