Dental news of the day for Thursday, Feb. 18

Patterson reports sales numbers

Sales of Patterson Dental Supply, Patterson’s largest business, were $572,073,000 in the third quarter, down 2% from $584,140,000 in the year-earlier period.

* Sales of consumable dental supplies and printed office products rose 2% from last year’s third quarter. Internally-generated sales, excluding foreign currency adjustments and acquisitions, were up slightly, marking the first such sales growth for consumables since the fall of 2008 when the national economy started to deteriorate sharply.

* Sales of dental equipment and software declined 10% from the year-earlier level, which was consistent with Patterson’s forecast for this period.

* Sales of other services and products, consisting primarily of technical service parts and labor, software support services and artificial teeth, rose 10% from last year’s third quarter.

Optimism abounds for IDEM 2010 in Singapore

Early sign ups by U.S. dental manufacturers for IDEM Singapore 2010 indicate that the Pacific Rim region holds a lot of promise for companies seeking to expand their sales into that region. IDEM will take place for the sixth time from April 16-18, 2010.

The trade show will be accompanied by a high level scientific conference program focusing on the latest scientific trends and developments organized by the Singapore Dental Association. So far 20 companies have signed up for the IDEM USA Pavilion organized by Koelnmesse, Inc. in Chicago.

“IDEM Singapore is an excellent marketing tool for U.S. companies who are committed to become players in the South East Asian marketplace. We have been exhibiting at this event early on and think of it as the IDS of this region”, says Weston Pettersen, International Marketing Manager at Zimmer Dental, Inc.

Over 90% of the exhibit floor has been sold and show management expects around 390 companies and 7,000 visitors from the Pacific Rim region to be in attendance at IDEMSingapore 2010.

VELscope in use during Winter Olympics

LED Dental Inc. announced today that its VELscope Oral Cancer Screening System is being used to conduct oral cancer screenings for up to 800 athletes at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) mandated that 20 percent of athletes—up from 10 percent four years ago—receive a comprehensive examination, including a screening for oral cancer. The device selected to conduct the screenings is the VELscope system, which was developed in British Columbia by LED Dental in collaboration with the British Columbia Cancer Agency.

During the Vancouver Games, a team of 72 dentists and their volunteer assistants is anticipated to have approximately 800 athletes sit in their dental chairs not only for oral cancer screenings, but for everything from routine dental care to trauma surgery.

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Comment by Darrell Pruitt on February 19, 2010 at 1:06pm: “Sales of dental equipment and software declined 10% from the year-earlier level, which was consistent with Patterson’s forecast for this period.”

If one remembers the economy at the last of 2008, it is not difficult to understand why Patterson’s analysts forecast that sales of dental equipment would drop. But how did they know that sales of Patterson EagleSoft, their clinical and practice management software would also fall by 10%? I find it interesting that their accurate prediction was made shortly after Patterson announced the release of EagleSoft Version 15.00 on October 10, 2008. That must have been discouraging to EagleSoft employees. When is the last time you’ve heard of a company roll-out of a new version of software - expecting it to be even less successful the previous version? That’s interesting.

What makes Patterson’s valiant prediction of a decline in software sales even more remarkable is that a year ago, President-elect Barack Obama was giddy enthusiastic for digital health records, which includes Patterson’s EagleSoft. Not to say I told you so maybealittle, but Patterson’s analysts obviously recognized what I did long before: Digital dental records are losing popularity among dentists. What’s more, none of my patients have ever said that they wish I had digital dental records. Dental patients simply do not desire them. As a matter of fact, some have expressed relief that my paper records are more secure than anyone’s digital records. They also like not having to sign HIPAA forms - a meaningless waste of trees and appointment time.

A year after Patterson privately admitted doubt about paperless dental practices, the slow-moving ADA House of Delegates met in Hawaii in October ‘09 and officially encouraged ADA members to adopt eDRs. Why doesn’t the American Dental Association know at least as much about dentistry as Patterson Dental?

This is an intriguing time in dental history. I can’t wait until the ADA opens up about their mistakes in dental informatics. One of these days we’ll all have a good laugh about their lame, expensive shenanigans.

D. Kellus Pruitt DDS