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32 INTERVIEW Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition | 2/2018 Dentistry has fi nally arrived in the digital age An interview with Patrick Thurm, Vice President Technology, Global Prosthetic Solutions, Henry Schein By DTI platform Since its introduction in 2013, the ConnectDental from Henry Schein has helped numer- ous dental professionals make the diffi cult leap into digital dentistry. This autumn Dental Tribune Inter- national interviewed Vice President of Technology Patrick Thurm to fi nd out how dentistry has changed in the digital age and why Henry Schein ConnectDental provides guidance in an ever-growing market. Four years ago, we met here at the EAO congress to discuss the introduction of the Con- nectDental platform. How has the dental landscape changed since then, in your opinion? In the last four years, we have seen increasing penetration of digital technology, in both dental laborato- ries and practices. These technolo- gies are now used across the whole fi eld of dentistry, not only by im- plantologists and increasingly ortho- dontists but also by general practi- Patrick Thurm is Vice President Technology, Global Prosthetic Solutions, Henry Schein. (Courtesy of Henry Schein, Germany) Dentist's LifeStyle Conference & Exhibition Career Plan Life Plan DLS3 B a h r a i n 2 0 1 8 3 0 - 3 1 M a r c h #DLSBahrain Dr. Mariam Al Jalahma Prof.Paulo Kano Prof.Tarek Salah Prof. Christian Makary Dr. Sam Assassa Dr. Osama Al-Ali Dr. Farry B Jeffrey Dr. Sang Won Kwak Dr.Vinay Shivagange Dr. Omar Saleh Malkawi Dr. AbdulMajeed Kavarodi Dr. David Montalvo Dr. Nabiel ALGhazali Dr. Nausathkhan Ubayathulla Dr. Yusuf Ahmed Alzayani CDT Dan Stenkilsson Dr. Yasin Alavi Organized By Strategic Partner Supported By Online Registration NHRA CME Accepted By Media Partner Marketing Partner www.dlsbahrain.com/register Scan Me Bahrain Conferance Center Crown Plaza Hotel tioners. Of course, their integration is being realised at different paces, but we are seeing increasing network- ing with open systems gaining more and more market share. This is hav- ing a positive impact on penetration, which is exactly what we predicted four years ago. We no longer speak of technologies, but of integration and solutions. The International Dental Show this year clearly showed that dentistry has fi nally arrived in the digital age, and all large providers of materials and technologies have adjusted their portfolio to be able to contribute to this growing fi eld. With the ever-growing num- ber of solutions, entering the fi eld can be overwhelming. How does ConnectDental provide orientation? For us, this is the main role of Henry Schein ConnectDental. The platform helps to preselect, choose and con- nect products to support dentists in their efforts to offer new treatment concepts and achieve higher patient satisfaction. Meanwhile, 3-D printing has also fi nally arrived in dentistry. In this fi eld, we are now offering complete solutions with implant planning software that allow prac- tices and laboratories to produce sur- gical guides together, which means that they no longer have to rely on external providers. This way, they can provide a service that is much closer to the patient. There are actu- ally implantologists working with surgical guides for every implant they place. Digital dentistry offers amazing possibilities and the ConnectDental platform makes best use of them, either as a chairside solution in combination with Dentsply Sirona CEREC or as a solution using an in- traoral scanner and the services of a laboratory, for which we work close- ly with 3Shape and other leading manufacturers of digital impression solutions. That is also the reason we no longer call it an open system but ConnectDental Trusted Solutions, which means that the solutions we offer are thoroughly tried and tested. Where do you see the future of ConnectDental? As trusted advisers, we are commit- ted to helping dental profession- als to successfully integrate digital technology into every step of their clinical workfl ows. Therefore, we will continuously extend the Connect- Dental platform further. On the technology side, we always try to have the best solutions in our port- folio. Since we are a global company, we are certainly positioned very well in this fi eld and are able to in- clude any new trend in our system through partnerships with every important provider. Within Henry Schein, we work closely with our af- fi liates CAMLOG and Biohorizons in implantology, and other divisions of the company, such as Henry Schein Orthodontics. We also collaborate with leading clinicians, clinics, labo- ratories and universities to develop excellent solutions. Education too is a major focus and we invest a great deal of resources in this area. So there is plenty more to come.