Compex HD™ an Amazing Heated Composite Dispenser

 

As regular readers know, I'm a huge fan of heated composite.  The benefits are numerous as far as clinical results and long term outcomes.  Over 60 studies have shown the benefits of heating composite prior to placement.  However, those benefits are a bonus for me compared to how easy warm composite is to place.  I love placing warm composite!  There really isn't a single change to your restorative protocol that can have a bigger impact on the clinical results.  Normally to achieve great results, the effort is worth it, but effort is required.  This is one of those amazing things that can give you better results and actually make your efforts easier.

Along those lines, I'm also a huge fan of AdDent.  The company makes several impactful, high-quality products *and* they are one of the leading companies when it comes to products that can heat your composite to achieve great results.  I recently published a post about their Calset composite warming system... and it works great.  Today's post is about another one of their 'better mousetraps' to help with that.

The Compex HD is a composite dispensing gun that heats composite and allows you deliver it directly into the prep.  There is a small heating element in the barrel of the Compex HD that warms the compule before delivery and then allows you to smoothly and easily dispense it with the pull of the trigger.  The barrel is incredibly well insulated so there is not concern about the barrel making contact with soft tissues.

It warms the material to 155°F (68°C) in 40 seconds.  My normal protocol is finish the preparation and then we turn the Compex HD on.   While we're isolating the field, the composite is warming.  By the time we've isolated and have the prep ready for delivery, the device is ready to go.  At that point the material is delivered in the same manner as always.  That means no real change to your clinical protocol other than to push the 'on' button on the device.  No matter what technique you use or material you choose, the Compex HD can be integrated easily.

The device is cordless and the rechargeable battery can heat 100 compules before needing to be charged.  It's incredibly light weight and can be moved from operatory to operatory easily.  Of course, I feel that once you've used it, you'll find you need one in every restorative operatory in your office.  I should also state that the device fits well in the doctor's hand.  Whether you're like me and have fairly large fans or you're a female doctor with smaller hands, the Compex HD is easy to hold and use.

The device also has a small tab on the barrel that ejects the compule when pushed so changing and reloading is fast and efficient.  Once the barrel is fully warmed, the next compule heats fast so there is no concern about using Compex HD in quadrant cases where multiple compules would be used.  Of course pairing the device with AdDent's Calset device means that your composites are always warm and placement is even easier.

Compex HD is a winner and I feel if you try it, you'll feel the same way.  The benefits are amazing.

Chord Specialty Dental Partners Announces Massive Data Breach

 

Despite today being April Fools Day, today's post is true.  Quite honestly I wish it wasn't.

As you regular readers know, I'm constantly screaming about data security from the mountaintop.  However, I don't normally identify offices affected by a breach by name.  This one is different.  This breach is newsworthy because of the number of patients affected.  DSOs are prime targets for data breaches as they have interconnected systems that allow criminals to get *more* data than they could grab from a single office.  This particular breach has the potential to affect 173,000 patients and because of that, I think it's important to know about.

I want to make clear that this post is not meant to embarrass or demean the DSO.  This post is to remind all of us that security is a hugely important topic.  Taking your eyes off target can result in your practice being affected by something like this.  Incidents like this are hard to stop by the efforts of a private practice's IT contractor.  To get the best protection possible, an office needs security professionals.  There are several companies out there that can help make you as secure as possible.  My current favorite is Black Talon Security.  Also, to help you to be able to restore your info without paying the ransom, having solid and verified backups is critical.  That's why I trust DDS Rescue to provide backup services to my practice.

I'd also like to commend Chord Specialty Dental Partners for following the letter of the law.  HIPAA requires specific reporting and it looks like they are doing all they can to meet those reporting requirements.  These incidents are stressful and difficult on everyone involved and it appears that Chord is doing everything they can.  Below is their breach announcement as required by HIPAA.

NOTIFICATION OF DATA SECURITY INCIDENT

March 14, 2025 – On or around September 11, 2024, CDHA Management, LLC and Spark DSO, LLC dba Chord Specialty Dental Partners (“Chord”) discovered suspicious activity related to an employee’s email account. Upon discovery, we took immediate action to secure the account and engaged a team of third-party specialists to assist with determining the full nature and scope of the incident. The investigation determined that an unauthorized individual had gained access to several accounts for a limited time between August 19, 2024, to September 25, 2024. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive review of the information potentially affected. The type of information varies by individual and may include name and one or more of the following: address, Social Security number, driver’s license, bank account information, payment card information, date of birth, medical information, and health insurance information.

At this time, Chord is not aware of any evidence to suggest that any information has been or will be fraudulently misused. However, we were unable to rule out the possibility that the information could have been accessed. Therefore, in an abundance of caution, we are notifying potentially impacted individuals of this incident.

In response to this incident, we immediately began an investigation and reviewed our policies and procedures related to data security. We are also providing potentially affected individuals access to credit monitoring and identity protection services as an added precaution. If you have questions about this incident or would like to enroll in the credit monitoring and identity protection services, please call 1-833-998-6327, Monday through Friday, between 8 AM and 8 PM ET, excluding holidays. You may also write to us at 1801 West End Ave., Suite 410, Nashville, TN 37203.

In general, we encourage potentially affected individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing credit reports/account statements and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity and to detect errors. Under U.S. law, individuals are entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

Individuals have the right to place an initial or extended fraud alert on a credit file at no cost. If individuals are a victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert lasting seven years. As an alternative to a fraud alert, they have the right to place a credit freeze on a credit report. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved without consent. Pursuant to federal law, individuals cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on your credit report. 

Should individuals wish to place a fraud alert or credit freeze, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

TransUnion                           Experian                                Equifax
1-800-680-7289                      1-888-397-3742                      1-888-298-0045
www.transunion.com              www.experian.com                 www.equifax.com

Individuals can further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps to protect their personal information by contacting the credit reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), or their state Attorney General. The FTC also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. The FTC may be reached at 600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement, the state Attorney General, and the FTC. 

Stan Goff Joins Dentistry Today

Today I bring you some great news.  I can't begin to describe how happy I am to tell you all this.  Stan and I worked together at DPR for over 20 years.  During all of that time I considered him a colleague and more importantly my friend.  So it's with a happy heart that I tell you that Stan has joined the team at Dentistry Today.   That's great news because not only is Stan one of the nicest people you' ll ever meet, but it also means his incredible knowledge of the dental industry will be put to good use.  He's a first class journalist and the folks at Dentistry Today are lucky to have him!  Here's what DT had to day about this...

Goff brings more than two decades of experience in covering the dental industry to the leading clinical news magazine and website for dentists.

Dentistry Today, the nation’s leading clinical news magazine for dentists, proudly announces the hiring of veteran journalist Stan Goff.

Leveraging nearly 25 years of experience in the dental industry, Goff began his career in 1999 at Dental Products Report and over the years held a variety of positions including senior editor, managing editor, executive editor, and editor-in-chief. In his new role with Dentistry Today, Goff will serve as Senior Content Editor and will create, manage, and curate high-quality, relevant content for the magazine and its digital offerings.

He joins a strong team of editors and writers led by Editor-in-Chief Dr. Paul Feuerstein, DMD, for Dentistry Today, which also boasts an esteemed CE Editorial Board and a vast, talented Dental Advisory Board.

“I have had the pleasure of working alongside Stan throughout much of his career, and it’s truly exciting to now have him as part of our team,” said Dr. Paul Feuerstein, DMD, Editor-in-Chief of Dentistry Today. “Our combined experience and skillsets will undoubtedly strengthen our editorial offerings and continue to serve the dental industry at the highest level.”

“Stan’s wealth of experience and deep understanding of the dental industry make him a tremendous addition to our team,” said Jim Radcliffe, Publisher of Dentistry Today. “His strong relationships with manufacturers and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), along with his leadership in content creation and dedication to quality journalism, will undoubtedly enhance our efforts to deliver the best and most relevant information to our audience of dental professionals.”

“This is a great time to work in dentistry as technology and product innovations evolve and enable clinicians to deliver the best possible oral care for patients,” Goff said. “I am thrilled to continue my career as a dental journalist with a brand that is celebrating 45 years of clinical excellence, and to work with Dr. Feuerstein and the rest of the talented team.”

Goff, who has a Journalism degree from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, began his journalism career 40 years ago in the newspaper industry and has been reporting on the latest in dental products, techniques, and technologies since 1999.

“In my new position, I can’t wait to assist Dentistry Today in its efforts to inform clinicians everywhere on the latest news and products designed to enable dental practices to thrive and to provide the best patient care.”

For media inquiries or to share information on product releases, news, or story ideas, please contact Stan Goff at sgoff@dentistrytoday.com.

DGSHAPE Americas Announces Launch of New DWX-43W Wet Milling Solution

 

For the past couple of months I've been using testing the *new* DGSHAPE on office mill in my office.  The unit is called the DWX-43W and it has been giving us amazing results.  Now the company is announcing the new mill is available to everyone.  Read on for all the details.

Roland DGA’s DGSHAPE Americas dental business group, a leading provider of innovative digital dental solutions for producing lab-quality esthetic crowns, bridges, onlays, and veneers, has announced the launch of the new DWX-43W – a next-generation wet milling solution that combines innovative filter-free technology with faster milling times for superior, cost-effective performance. Unbeatable for producing traditional ceramics and custom titanium abutments, the DWX-43W enables dental businesses to deliver high-quality same-day restorations while reducing operating costs, allowing for maximum profitability. 

DWX-43W Wet Milling Solution Features Include:

• Flexibility Comes Standard: Open-Architecture Eco-System Platform allows users to utilize their choice of restorative materials, scanners, and CAD design software.
• The Need for Speed: New DGSHAPE CAM software (included) decreases milling times by up to 20% while increasing milling efficiency and predictability.
• No More Costly Filters: New filter-less technology eliminates the need for coolant tank filters, reducing the cost of use by 20%. Upgraded coolant tank tray design filters milling waste without the need for separate tank filters.
• Easy Care: New automatic coolant jet optimization and draining cycle reduces routine mill maintenance by 50% compared to previous DWX-42W series models.
• Added Value Accessories: The DWX-43W includes 15 high-quality DGSHAPE wet milling tools and a 6-pin adapter accessory (a $1,630 value).
• Get Connected: Simple integration with Ethernet or USB connectivity.

The DWX-43W is uniquely engineered to make the wet milling of hard materials – like Chairside Zirconia & Amber Mill Direct, Powered by Roland DGA – easier and more precise than ever before. It’s compatible with many other materials as well, including traditional and pre-crystalized lithium disilicates, glass ceramics, PMMA, hybrid ceramics, composite resins, and pre-mill titanium blanks.

The DWX-43W comes bundled with DGSHAPE CAM software, which includes a host of tools that dramatically increase efficiency and convenience. Features include a “quick mill” option that streamlines workflow by making it easy to select frequently used materials and start milling quickly, a choice of “fast” or “high-quality” milling modes to suit specific user needs, the ability to save significant time and effort by milling up to six units simultaneously with the included 6-pin adapter accessory, and much more.  

  

Users will also appreciate the DWX-43W’s proprietary VPanel and DGSHAPE Cloud software, which enable real-time remote monitoring from anywhere, anytime, on any device. In addition, the DWX-43W includes authentic DGSHAPE tools and accessories that allow for expanded milling capabilities and greater ROI.

In addition, the DWX-43W’s newly designed internal material adapter and coolant tank tray are compatible with DGSHAPE’s AK-1 Material Adapters facilitating the milling of custom titanium abutments with pre-mill CAD/CAM blanks from MEDENTiKA®, DESS®, and GeoMEDI®.

“The new DGSHAPE DWX-43W ushers in a new era of wet-milling capabilities, ease of use, and performance,” said Lisa Aguirre, Roland DGA’s Dental Marketing Manager. “It builds upon the award-winning technology of DGSHAPE’s previous wet milling solutions and offers even greater productivity, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. With its cutting-edge features and advancements that allow for higher quality, increased output, and greater profitability, this solution can help any dental business improve workflow, reduce costs, and exceed customer expectations.”

Like all DGSHAPE devices, the DWX-43W wet milling solution is built to provide unsurpassed precision and reliability over the long haul. Plus, for extra peace of mind, it’s backed up by a two-year manufacturer’s warranty and Roland DGA’s industry-best service and support.

 

To learn more about the new DWX-43W, visit https://www.rolanddga.com/DWX-43W. For more information on the complete line of DGSHAPE dental milling solutions, visit https://www.rolanddga.com/dental.

About Roland DGA Corporation and DGSHAPE Americas

Roland DGA Corporation serves North and South America as the marketing, sales, distribution and service arm for Roland DG Corporation and its subsidiary, DGSHAPE. Founded in 1981, Roland DG of Hamamatsu, Japan is a worldwide leader in wide-format inkjet printers, engravers, photo impact printers and CNC milling machines. DGSHAPE Americas is the Roland DGA dental business group dedicated to the DGSHAPE line of products, most notable as a market leader in dental milling machines. To learn more about Roland DGA Corporation and DGSHAPE Americas, visit https://www.rolanddga.com/dental.

About Roland DG Corporation

With the purpose of “To Empower Creativity and Excitement Worldwide,” Roland DG Corporation strives to bring new opportunities to society through digital solutions that make it easy for anyone to create things. The company’s inkjet printers and printer/cutters are widely used in a variety of visual communication fields, including signage and interior decoration. In the digital fabrication field, our inkjet printers, cutting machines, and 3D digital fabrication tools enable the personalization and customization of items tailored to individual customer needs. By adopting a high-mix, low-volume, on-demand approach, Roland DG aims to create new applications. Recently, Roland DG has further expanded the digital transformation frontier. The company provides a cloud-based service to enhance customers’ printing operations and profitability and a cloud-based production improvement solution offering the expertise of its proprietary production support system for small and medium-sized manufacturers. To learn more about DGSHAPE Corporation, visit https://www.dgshape.com.

Measles Cases and Outbreaks are on the Rise in the United States

 

A short post today simply because the information I want to provide you is in the link at the end here.  

With Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr now in charge of HHS (Department of Health and Human Services), there have been a lot of stories in the mainstream news and a lot of concerns about where the US is heading as far as vaccines are concerned.  RFK Jr has not made it a secret that he has some 'less than mainstream' views on the subject.  He also has expressed a lot of concerns about community water fluoridation, but that's a post for another day...

Today's post is about measles.  The disease was pretty much eradicated through a vaccine program that has been deployed since the late 1950s.  Measles is incredibly infectious and epidemics of the virus were common before the vaccine was developed.  Since its mass deployment in the late 1960s, measles *was* almost unheard of.

Then came the 'vaccine scare' that most of us are familiar with where people used little to no science to frighten the public into thinking that vaccines... any vaccine, was dangerous and caused all kinds of problems in the children they were being administered to.  That non-science based scare program resulted in many parents refusing to have their children vaccinated.  Of course parents want to protect their children; its one of our most basic and important human traits.  The problem is that, due to the scare tactics, measles and other childhood diseases began to occur again.

Measles outbreaks were almost unheard of for several decades, but now the virus and its infection are on the rebound.  

Now to the meat of today's post.  The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) put an announcement up on March 21, 2025 to discuss the current measles outbreak in the United States.  As of March 20, 2025, CDC has tracked a total of 378 confirmed cases.  Because measles is so easy to be transferred, this kind of information is important for dentists to be aware of.  Head over to the CDC webpage and get this important info.

And if you are an info geek like I am, you'll probably enjoy reading the history of the measles vaccine on the WHO (World Health Organization) website.  The page also has a brief section on the debunked scientific paper that started the entire vaccine scare.  I found the info fascinating!

Proud to Announce My Affiliation with Bien Air Academy

 

For well over a decade I've been a huge fan of the Bien Air company.  I've been a fan of electric handpieces almost since they came on the market, but when I got a chance to test drive the Bien Air Optima system all those years ago, I was impressed.  Their handpieces are Swiss engineered and manufactured which means you can feel the quality from the moment you pick one up.

I could write for hours and probably not be able to include all the advantages that come from using electric handpieces.  However, probably the best proof of that was my experience from about a year ago.  It's a long story that I won't go into here, but I was forced to work with air driven handpieces for about a month.

Electric handpieces for me are sort of like the Internet.  By that I mean we often don't even think of how dependent we are on something until we don't have it.  During the four week 'no electric' time in my life I realized just how important electric handpieces are to me.

It seemed that every patient needed a replacement for an existing zirconia crown on a second molar.  Trying to remove one of those with air driven was a challenge and the lack of torque was eye opening for me.  Zirconia is a really difficult material to cut no matter what, but it was incredibly more difficult with an air driven system.  Cutting the groove to allow me to remove them took three to four times longer than normal.  I also found that simple things like crown preps and margin finishing was also much more difficult.  To sum it up,  I'm an even bigger fan of electric handpieces after that experience.

That's why I'm honored to be working with the Bien Air Academy to help bring that message to other doctors.  The academy is an online training portal that provides training and educational videos about the advantages and use of electric handpieces.  I'm soon going to be working on creating some 'over the shoulder' videos on dentaforms and different materials to help other doctors understand the advantages of electric handpieces.

The Bien Air Academy is already online so you can go there right now and see what they have to offer.  My videos will be recorded soon.  They aren't available just yet, but they'll be there sometime in the not too distant future.  Head on over to Bien Air Academy and check out what they currently have to offer.  I think you'll be happy with what they have so far!

Shining 3D AccuDesign Software Suite - Testing is about to Begin

 

As you regular readers know, I'm all in on 3D printing.  I've spent the last year and have continued into 2025 with a deep dive into the tech and all it can do.  It's been an incredible and enlightening journey.

The really interesting part of this exploration has been how these systems just keep getting better.  Often when technology is being developed we see a big splash as something enters the market and then there is a bit of a pause as users adopt.  This pause in progress allows a technology to gain a toehold in the market as users learn.  It also allows the companies to continue research & development to create progress.  After a year or so, there's a 'Version 2.0' and often the cycle repeats itself.  Every generation moves the technology forward and it becomes a cycle of develop, user adoption, repeat.

Interestingly enough, 3D printing hasn't necessarily followed that same normal cycle.  Instead, this tech keeps progressing at an amazingly fast rate.  The rapid progress and change I'm seeing isn't necessarily in the hardware.  Sure 3D printers are getting faster and more accurate, but that isn't the thing I'm talking about.  The more amazing changes and advances I'm seeing are in the design process.

I've always felt that the real pain point in adoption of this tech hasn't been hardware related.  It's always been pretty easy to print things.  No, the problem has always been in design.  It's been the process of actually creating the projects for the printer to fabricate that has kept people from adopting the tech.  Now it's easy to design projects and *that* is why I'm predicting that 3D printing is about to make a dramatic and massive change in dentistry.  

We all know that artificial intelligence has had a massive impact on our profession and our world.  It's become the 'secret sauce' that powers so much of our lives.  We often don't even realize it's there.  From a geek's perspective, AI is a lot like the code behind Java.  When Java came along, suddenly webpages became incredibly interactive.  It changed our lives, but other than the people who applied the code to those pages in the background, the end user only saw the end result.  Things got easier.  AI is a lot like that.

So what has this got to do with 3D printing?  Simply put, AI has greatly simplified the design process.  If Instagram required a user to have an in-depth knowledge of Photoshop, the number of users would be tiny.  But when you can take a photo with your phone and almost instantaneously send it to Instagram,  usage explodes.  No one has the time to be an expert in a particular software platform.  The secret is to make the user experience seamless *and* easy.

I'm now expanding my 3D printing horizons by working with more design and nesting systems.  This next endeavor is going to be with the design platform AccuDesign from Shining 3D.  For those of you who aren't familiar  with the company, they've been on the market for a while now, although probably not as long as some of the players that you've previously heard of.  However, that doesn't mean they are playing catch up.  No, that isn't the case at all.  Instead, like Athena being born fully formed and in armor from the skull of Zeus, Shining 3D came to market with an entire mature suite of products and solutions.  The company not only has a line of 3D printing solutions, they also have a complete line of digital dental solutions.  Add to that the fact that the company is celebrating it's 20th year in business and it's pretty easy to see that Shining 3D is poised to become an important part of the dental 3D industry.

The company has intraoral scanners, facial extraoral scanners, resins, as well as several 3D printers, and all the necessary hardware to complete 3D printed projects.  Shining 3D also has several other specialty divisions with a presence in medicine, metrology, and engineering.  My point in brining this up is that this  company has a serious presence in multiple professions and that means they have capital and strong research and development.

Their design software, AccuDesign is pretty slick.  While I'm not well versed in it... yet, it utilizes AI to simplify much of the design process as well as utilizing AI in the nesting process and even utilizes AI to help increase efficiency when printing multiple projects at the same time.  

Recently I've spent some time tinkering with AccuDesign, but I'm about to take one of my deep dives into the system.  I'll be posting more as I get some experience, but my initial take is really favorable.  I've been around enough of these systems to be able to tell that this one has some features that aren't readily available in other design suites out there.  Stay tuned for updates.  I'll be posting more of my experiences and projects as I get more experience with this design system.

Also, this year I'm doing a series of lectures in Las Vegas on 3D printing and all the things it can do for your dental practice.  The best part of these lectures is that they are two days in length.  I promise they won't be boring!  That's mainly because one and a half of those days will be spent giving you hands-on time with design software and the 3D printing hardware.  I'm partnering with Medidenta on these courses and they will be at Medidenta's headquarters in Las Vegas.  The company has put a serious amount of resources into building a classroom that not only allows you to listen to lectures, it also allows attendees to *use the equipment*.  If you have an interest in learning  all about 3D printing, you can get 16 hours of CE from the course.  My goal is for you to leave with the knowledge and capabilities to 3D print with confidence the day equipment arrives in your office.

You don't have to have a 3D printer to attend.  In fact, I'd prefer you NOT have a printer.  Rather than buy something, learn to use it, and try to implement it... my idea is for you to learn what you need to know and *then* decide to make a purchase afterwards.  So plan on coming out to Las Vegas on June 21-22, 2025 and learn how 3D printing can change your office in so, so many ways.  For more info, click this link.  If you're interested in other courses offered by other incredible and well known presenters, follow this link for all the courses Medidenta has planned.  If you have any questions or would like more info on my Medidenta courses, please leave a comment and I'll try and give you my very best answers.  One thing I can guarantee is that if you attend, we are going to have fun!