Dandy Unveils Polychromatic Shade™ to End the Trade-Off Between Dental Aesthetics and Affordability

 

Breakthrough innovation delivers natural-looking zirconia crowns and bridges at a fraction of the cost of hand-painted porcelain

Dandy, the fully digital dental lab, today unveiled Polychromatic Shade™, a category-defining innovation in restorative dentistry. The patented technology produces crowns and finishes with the aesthetics of porcelain, but with the durability and affordability of Zirconia. With the Polychromatic Shade process, dentists will have access to premium, lifelike Zirconia prosthetics for as little as a quarter of the price of a hand-painted porcelain version.

Today, 90% of crown and bridge cases are made with Zirconia. The material is popular because of its strength, biocompatibility, and highly competitive price point. But when it comes to aesthetics, Zirconia can often appear lifeless and opaque. When a clinician requires a better aesthetic outcome, they opt for a material like PFZ (Porcelain-Fused Zirconia) or eMax, layered by skilled ceramists to achieve lifelike translucency, characterization, and depth. This solution can be more than 2-3x the cost of the Zirconia alternative.

"For the first time, Dandy's patented Polychromatic Shade™ innovation introduces a third option. The product of a $100M+ investment and a global supply chain spanning 7 countries drawing on expertise from semiconductor-grade robotics, ceramic science, and machine learning, Polychromatic Shade™ is built around a patented robotic stain and glaze process that applies color to the tooth with micron-level accuracy. The result is a realistic finish with natural gradients, lifelike translucency, and gingival warmth on a high-strength zirconia substrate. At $99 per crown, compared to the $200-$400 typical for crowns from a boutique dental lab, dentists no longer have to choose between beauty and affordability."

“There is no reason now for dentists or their patients to have to compromise. Everything we do focuses on bringing premium quality prosthetics and patient experiences at an affordable price point, ” said Daniel Hanover, Co-founder at Dandy.  “That includes aesthetics, and we believe dentists should be able to provide the highest-quality aesthetic outcomes to every patient. Of course, realistic dental crowns are crucial for the well-being and confidence of the patient, but when a dentist can deliver a premium look at a fraction of the price, it will also drive patient retention and growth for their practice.”

Polychromatic Shade™ delivers:

• Porcelain level aesthetics with zirconia strength - lifelike depth & translucency with natural gradients, natural, all on a high-strength Zirconia substrate that is durable to any bite
• Crowns a fraction of the cost of boutique labs - $99 crowns, with a lifetime warranty and no fees for remakes
• Reliability and speed - As with all Dandy products, dentists can expect a highly predictable fit, delivered in just 5 days

Availability

Polychromatic Shade™ crown samples can be requested today at Dandy. Polychromatic Shade™ crowns are available for ordering in May 2026.

About Dandy

Dandy, the first fully digital dental lab, is building the modern operating system for dentistry. Dandy partners with dental practices to transform their business with state-of-the-art intraoral scanners, always-on expert guidance, and precision manufacturing accelerated by AI, 3D printing, and other state-of-the-art technologies seamlessly orchestrated by Dandy's proprietary software. Dandy empowers dentists with technology, innovation, and world-class support to achieve more for their practice, their people, and their patients. With unparalleled quality, efficiency, and experience, Dandy makes the business of dentistry pain-free. To learn more, visit meetdandy.com or our LinkedIn page, www.linkedin.com/company/dandyofficial/.

New Data Links Long ER Delays to Higher Mortality Rates

 

For injuries in battle, the military refers to "The Golden Hour".  If someone sustains a life threatening injury, getting them urgent medical care within the first hour greatly increases the patient's chance of survival.  That's why medevac helicopter pilots and medics risk their own lives, flying in under fire to pick up wounded soldiers.  They know that the faster they get the injured medical care, the better chance they have of surviving it.  Their motto is "That Others May Live".  Their bravery is inspiring.

However, for most of us, we'll never need that kind of emergency care, yet everyday hospital emergency rooms are full of patients.  Statistics say that 384,000-425,000 patients are seen in US emergency rooms every day.  Those same stats say that the average number seen in each ER is 150-400 per day, which on the low end means one person enters an ER every nine minutes.

Not everyone of those patients has a life threatening problem, but not every situation is easy to diagnose.  A person complaining of bad indigestion may well be suffering a heart attack, for instance.  ERs practice triage as best they can to help determine who needs to be seen immediately and who can wait.  It's not easy to quickly determine who can wait, so the staff does the best they can.  Yet ER visits continue to rise.  In the last ten years, emergency room visits are up 6.73%.  That, of course means that wait times increase.

I recently became aware of a report from the UK Royal College of Emergency Medicine that has some pretty concerning info: 

"This report outlines the state of Emergency Medicine in 2025, examining the scale of overcrowding in Emergency Departments (EDs) and the impact this is having on patient safety and staff. Drawing on national data, research and frontline evidence from clinicians, it highlights how long waits, high bed occupancy and a lack of patient flow continue to lead to overcrowded departments. This leads to unsustainable conditions in EDs, declining public confidence in emergency care and increasing pressure on staff."

 While the report deals with the British NHS, I'm pretty confident that similar situations apply in the US as well.  

Join Me for The Complete Workflow: Scanning, Designing, Printing & Post-Processing Webinar this Wednesday July 22

 

This Wednesday, July 22 at 7:00pm Central, I'll be presenting a webinar, "The Complete Workflow:  Scanning, Designing, Printing & Post-Processing".  The event is sponsored by Medidenta.

Dentistry has reached a critical tipping point in how we deliver our services to patients.  The world of 3D Printing now allows us to deliver almost anything you can imagine much faster and with lower costs than ever before.

I'm going to be explaining the whole process from start to finish in this 2 hour webinar.  You'll receive 2 hours of CE and the amazing folks at Medidenta are providing this to you FOR FREE!  One of the many things I love about Medidenta is their commitment to education.  Their thought process is that "educated customers are better customers".  The goal is to help doctors truly understand a product and/or process before buying.  It does no one any good to purchase a 3D printing system and then have it sit unused.  Happy customers tell their colleagues and that's better for everyone involved.  Join me tomorrow night and see if 3D printing is a good fit for your office.  I'm pretty sure you'll see the advantages.

3D printing is making rapid inroads in the profession.  It's now past the 'early adopter' phase and is moving mainstream.  More and more offices are offering 3D printing to their patients and, trust me, you don't want to be left behind in this evolution.  Patient expectations are now higher than ever and getting into 3D printing now  will help set your practice apart from the competition.  Register with the link below and see how easy it really is.  I'm self taught in this subject and I truly believe that if I can do it, you can too!  See you Wednesday night!

Here's the link to register!   

Philips Sonicare Sets New Benchmark in Oral Healthcare with Brand's First Electric Toothbrush Powered By On-Device AI and Real-Time Spatially Aware Guidance, Helping People Brush with Greater Coverage And Confidence

 

For years I've been a fan of Philips Sonicare.  The company makes outstanding products and spends a tremendous amount of time and money on research and science.  They not only come up with amazing ideas, they then do scientific research to ensure they truly have a benefit.  When a dental professional makes a product recommendation to a patient, it's important to know the product comes backed by the science, and Philips Sonicare does that.

I've spoken for them at meetings and helped them work on some products before they came to market.  I can tell you from that personal experience the company works hard to help patients keep their smiles and gums healthy.

I also am a fan of using an app to help with brushing.  I feel that providing patients real time guidance to help them keep their mouths clean can be a tremendous benefit.

Here's the latest product announcement from Philips Sonicare and the the science to back up the claims:

Philips Sonicare Next-Generation DiamondClean 9900 Prestige lets users leave the guesswork behind, offering real-time guidance via light ring, on-device mouth map and smart pressure sensing to deliver 2000%1 more plaque removal and 1500%2 healthier gums vs manual brushing

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in oral healthcare, today announced its most advanced, intelligent electric toothbrush ever: the Philips Sonicare Next-Generation DiamondClean 9900 Prestige – a breakthrough in Sonicare's personalized oral care that empowers people to see how well they’re brushing in real-time.

From heart disease and diabetes to Alzheimer's and pregnancy outcomes, studies have shown that having a healthy mouth may be integral to overall well-being3. Yet more than a third of people (37%) are left guessing if they're brushing well enough between dental visits.

Building on more than three decades of innovation from the No.1 sonic toothbrush brand recommended by dental professionals worldwide, the Philips Sonicare Next-Generation DiamondClean 9900 Prestige is designed to help people brush with greater confidence. It combines on-device AI guidance with a powerful yet gentle clean, removing up to 2000% more plaque than a manual toothbrush4.

“Philips Sonicare is opening a new era of oral care by making the invisible visible,” said Francesco Grillo, Philips Global Business Unit Leader – Oral Healthcare. “For decades, people have been told how to brush better, yet most never truly knew how well they were brushing. With our Next-Generation DiamondClean 9900 Prestige, we fundamentally reimagined the brushing experience by combining advanced sensing, real-time guidance and AI-powered personalization directly within the toothbrush itself. The result is a simpler, more intuitive and more effective way to help people build healthier habits and achieve better oral health outcomes every day.”

“Too many people still rely on manual brushing routines that can leave up to 50% of bacterial plaque behind, especially overnight when bacteria can grow undisturbed,” said Matina Vidalis, Sr. Marketing Director – Oral Healthcare, Philips Personal Health North America. “Addressing this oral health gap has shaped everything we’re doing this year, from reimagining World Oral Health Day as ‘World Oral Health Night’ to re-launching our newly redesigned Sonicare portfolio in a single year. With the Next-Generation DiamondClean 9900 Prestige, we’re redefining what daily oral care routines look and feel like, helping remove the guesswork from brushing through visual guidance, personalized care, and premium design, giving consumers greater confidence that their daily routines are truly working.”

The Philips Sonicare Next-Generation DiamondClean 9900 Prestige transforms brushing forever…

Through personalized brushing guidance

• Complete care is now 100% visible: The 9900 Prestige uses the brand’s third-generation AI and machine learning model, leveraging spatially aware guidance, to instantly display how well users are brushing during a session with its new light ring guidance system for a real-time view on coverage, pressure or scrubbing.
• No more guessing, with on-device Mouth Map: Smart Coverage Feedback closely follows your brushing to help you clean thoroughly. The 12-segment Sonicare Mouth Map on the toothbrush’s display lets you know if you have missed spots while brushing and need a touch-up, or even better, a dazzling smile up for a brush well done.
• Achieve the perfect pressure, protecting your teeth and gums: Philips SenseIQ smart pressure sensors automatically adapts intensity if you press too hard.
• Personalize your oral care: Easily swipe to select from 8 modes, 3 intensities and the type of instant feedback communicated via the light ring.

Through a superior brushing experience5 that elevates daily well-being

• Remove plaque deep between teeth and along the gumline: Sonicare Fluid Action pulses fluid deeply in-between teeth and along the gumline to support the bristles to remove plaque.
• Experience a quieter6, gentle clean everywhere: Powered by Next-Generation Sonicare drivetrain previously introduced in Sonicare 5000-7000 series earlier this year, which introduced a quieter motor while providing a gentle-yet-effective clean, even in hard-to-reach areas.
• Designed with the planet in mind: Newly designed encapsulation for battery replacement and repairability and comes in paper-based packaging. Perfectly complimented by Sonicare’s range of brush heads made with 70% bio-based plastic7.
• Elevate your bathroom aesthetic: As stylish as it is smart, the 9900 Prestige comes in three premium colors (Silver White, Satin Mauve and Quartz Black). It also has a sleek, rechargeable travel case and luxury charging glass.

Philips Sonicare ushers in a new era of oral care

The launch of the next-generation Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900 Prestige builds on a milestone year for Philips Sonicare. Earlier this year, the brand introduced its new electric toothbrush range 5000–7000 Series, bringing next-generation sonic technology, refreshed design, more accessible price points and more intuitive brushing experiences to consumers across the portfolio. It also marked the debut of “Feel the Care,” Sonicare’s refreshed brand direction created to bring the signature ‘Sonicare feeling’ to life through clinically proven performance.

The Philips Sonicare Next-Generation DiamondClean Series 9900 Prestige is part of the new Next-Generation DiamondClean 8000-9000 range and will be available on Amazon in September 2026.

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips’ patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, image-guided therapy, monitoring and enterprise informatics, as well as in personal health. Philips generated 2025 sales of approximately EUR 18 billion and employs approximately 64,300 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

1 versus manual toothbrush

2 in Clean mode vs a manual toothbrush in 6 weeks

3 Effects of periodontal disease on glycemic control, complications, and incidence of diabetes mellitus (2020, May) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/prd.12271, Periodontitis and cardiovascular diseases: Consensus report (2020, February) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpe.13189, Periodontal diseases and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2018, August) https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jog.13782

4 in terms of plaque removal, vs manual toothbrush with an A3 brush head

5 versus manual toothbrush

6 versus DiamondClean 9000, DiamondClean 9000 Limited/Special Edition, DiamondClean Smart, Prestige 9900

7 Allocated to plastic of brush head on mass balance basis

Planet DDS Declares the Practice Management Era Over and Launches DentalOS®, the Dental Enterprise Platform for DSOs

Here's some pretty big news from Planet DDS.  The company is announcing that Planet DDS will officially declare the practice management era over and launch DentalOS®, a dental enterprise platform that unifies Denticon and Cloud 9 on one data layer, with AI agents built on top, and they are doing that at no extra cost to customers.

Most PMS platforms were built with the  basic concept of a single location private practice.  That was pretty much the norm when dentistry was moving from analog to digital record keeping, charting, etc in the late 90s and early 00s.  However, since those early days, the business aspect of dentistry has changed significantly.  Now many private practices are multi-location enterprise businesses.  Then when you factor into the equation the emergence of corporate dental offices and DSOs, it's apparent that the market has changed... in ways that many systems weren't originally built to handle.

The new system, which they are calling DentalOS will launch in phases.

 

Phase 1 lays the enterprise foundation: a unified OS Desktop, enterprise-grade security with SSO and MFA, centralized user management, and an Agentic Marketplace for AI-powered workflows.   

With this launch, they aim for the platform to absorb operational noise and eliminate RCM friction, with every specialty acting on connected patient data.  Here is what Planet DDS has to say:

One Patient. One Schedule. One RCM.

Planet DDS today declared the practice management era in dental software over and launched DentalOS®, the dental enterprise platform built to replace it. DentalOS is not a smarter practice management system. It is a new category of software entirely: a unified platform that connects Denticon and Cloud 9 on a single data layer, with a new suite of enterprise capabilities, including AI agents, built on top. DentalOS will be available at no additional cost to Planet DDS customers, giving dental group executives visibility, control, and financial performance to run the organizations they’ve built.

More than half of the largest 60 DSOs in North America already run on Planet DDS. What the company sees across the industry is consistent: multi-location enterprises using software built for a single practice. The company has observed the industry entering a new enterprise era, which requires a fundamentally different kind of software.

“Every bet we’ve made as a company, we made early and often alone. Cloud-native before it was obvious, open ecosystem to give our customers choices, and enterprise-grade before DSOs were a mainstream conversation. It was never luck or prophecy. Our customers knew and we had the conviction to listen. DentalOS is our answer to the dental enterprise era,” said Eric Giesecke, CEO of Planet DDS.

Why Planet DDS Built DentalOS

Years of consolidation produced organizations managing dozens or hundreds of locations, with private equity-grade reporting requirements, multi-specialty complexity, and the operational ambition to run it all as one. The practice management software those organizations are running was only ever designed to manage a single office.

“I’ve never met a DSO leader who said their biggest problem was finding the right practice management software. They talk about visibility, scale, AI, and operational consistency across dozens of locations. They’re looking for a platform that matches the ambition of what they’ve built,” said Mike Huffaker, Chief Revenue Officer of Planet DDS.

Four forces are converging to make the status quo increasingly untenable: the industry-wide shift from acquisition to operation as DSOs focus on running what they’ve acquired; the arrival of AI, where the underlying data layer determines who wins; a labor crisis that makes automation a survival necessity; and a rising bar for enterprise-grade security, total cost of ownership, and visibility across multi-location dental organizations.

“Every capability we're building—AI agents, clinical voice, predictive revenue cycle—performs relative to the quality of the data beneath it. DentalOS is that foundational platform. We built the platform so that everything built on it today and in the future performs at a level disconnected tools never could,” said Nathan James, Chief Product Officer of Planet DDS.

What Is DentalOS? The Dental Enterprise Platform Explained

DentalOS is the dental enterprise platform that connects practice management, revenue cycle, imaging, and AI on a single data layer for DSOs and multi-location dental groups. Built on an open ecosystem of 80+ integration partners, DentalOS gives operators the tools that fit their organization—not the tools a single vendor chose for them. On that foundation is a new layer of enterprise add-on suites, each solving specific operational problems at scale:

• Agents+: Expands operational capacity without adding headcount. The Confirmation Agent automatically confirms appointments and updates the schedule; the Recall Agent identifies overdue patients and reaches out to book recall appointments. Both are available today. Coming soon: the Cancellation Recovery Agent, which rebooks cancelled appointments, and the Missed Appointment Recovery Agent, which follows up immediately with no-shows. RCM and clinical agents to come. 
• Clinical Voice+: Standardizes clinical documentation at the point of capture so DSO leadership can benchmark, govern, and trust clinical data across every provider and location; AI Voice Perio and AI Voice Restorative live today in Denticon; AI Progress Notes launching next
• Imaging+: Removes per-location server infrastructure and gives enterprise leadership an organization-wide view of imaging utilization; includes 3D module, CBCT cloud storage, expanded storage, and imaging analytics
• Patient+: Turns patient communication from a staff-dependent task into a systematic revenue process; includes MyTooth for a connected patient digital experience across scheduling, forms, and communication
• Payments+: Closes the gap between collecting a payment and recording it; includes Planet DDS Pay for automatic ledger posting at the moment of collection across every location
• RCM+: 20 to 30% of submitted claims sit in denial or pending at any given time. For a 20-provider group, that’s millions in recoverable revenue. The RCM Hub changes that—purpose-built for revenue cycle within DentalOS, not as an afterthought inside practice management, surfacing that risk before it becomes a write-off across eligibility, claims, remittance, and patient AR.

DentalOS Phases: What's Launching and What's Coming

DentalOS will launch in phases. Phase 1 establishes the enterprise foundation that makes everything else possible: a unified OS Desktop experience, enterprise-grade security with Single Sign On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), centralized user management, and an Agentic Marketplace for AI-powered workflows. This is the infrastructure layer that gives CTOs and IT teams the visibility and enterprise-level control they’ve been asking for.

The platform roadmap ahead is persona-driven, with each phase designed to solve for a distinct role inside the DSO, from the front desk and DSO administrators to multi-specialty operators and enterprise leadership. Near-term phases focus on eliminating workflow friction and login fragmentation that costs staff time every day. Upcoming phases connect the multi-specialty enterprise and give leadership centralized control across every location and every user.

DentalOS for Every Stage of DSO Growth

Planet DDS is clear that the dental enterprise era is defined by intent, not size. A dental group that makes the right infrastructure decision at 15 locations will be better positioned at 150 than one that waits. For qualifying 2 to 9 location groups, the company’s Launchpad program gives early-stage groups access to the same DentalOS platform as the largest DSOs in the country.

The long-term destination: a dental enterprise where the platform handles the operational noise, RCM friction approaches zero, every specialty is connected, and the data accumulated across every location and patient relationship becomes a measurable, compounding competitive advantage.

Dental groups ready to move beyond practice-level tools can learn more by visiting planetdds.com/dentalos.

Resources

• Learn more about DentalOS
• Discover Denticon Practice Management
• Explore Cloud 9 Ortho Practice Management
• Read the 2026 Deep Dive Report
• Apply for Launchpad

About Planet DDS

Dental software is broken. We aim to fix it. Planet DDS is the leading dental enterprise software company in North America, delivering DentalOS®—the platform built to run the dental enterprise, not just the practice. As the industry enters the dental enterprise era, Planet DDS gives DSO and multi-location group executives the visibility, control, and financial performance to run every location, every specialty, and every dollar as one connected organization. Built on an open ecosystem with 80+ integration partners, DentalOS connects Denticon Practice Management, Cloud 9 Ortho Practice Management, and Apteryx Cloud Imaging on a single data layer—cloud-native since 2003 and enterprise-proven at scale. More than half of the top 60 DSOs in North America trust Planet DDS with solutions used across 14,500 practices and 175,000 users nationwide.

Why Standards Matter - The ADA's work on Standards and Safety

 

In a science based field like dentistry, standardization is critical.  If you don't have standards, nothing can really be measured and/or improved.  Imagine that you got to a jeweler and you ask for a gram of gold.  He pulls out a sealed black box and then tells you the price?  You ask, "Is there gold in there?"  How do you know how much it weighs?"  If his response is "Trust me.  If I say there's a gram of gold in there, you can be sure there is."  I think you would you would walk out.  I realize that's an overly simplistic and kooky example, but it really does hold true.  If you don't know what's in something or how much of it there is, how can you know what it is? 

Way back in 1917 the U.S. Army needed to get soldiers ready for battle.  They tasked the National Bureau of Standards to be in charge of research on amalgam.  That ended up being the event that brought the American Dental Association into the picture and lead to a standard on amalgam.

Today most practitioners don't even think about it.  We know the materials we order and use every day are state of the art, developed by amazingly intelligent people, and held to exacting standards.  But if it weren't for a lot of people working tirelessly in the background, that wouldn't be the case.  This is also a perfect example of why I'm a fan of organized dentistry.  I sometimes hear someone wonder "what has the ADA ever done for me?" and the ADA Standards Program is just one of those things.

The ADA News has a great article on how the Standards Program came to be and how it continues to help dentists every day.  You can find that article here and I think you'll be amazed when  you read it!

If you are a recent dental school graduate, I don't need to tell you about the student loan debt you have.  However today I can tell you about a program that could potentially help you make a dent in those student loan payments.  Delta Dental of Rhode Island has a program that offers up to $20k annually for up to three years if you practice in Rhode Island.  The info and details that Delta provided me are below as well as a link in case you are interested in applying.

As Rhode Island continues to face challenges in ensuring access to dental care, particularly in underserved communities, Delta Dental of Rhode Island is investing $5 million to help attract and retain dentists across the state.

 The Delta Dental of Rhode Island Dentist Loan Repayment Program is now accepting applications from eligible early-career dentists. Administered by the Rhode Island Foundation, the program provides up to $20,000 annually for up to three years in student loan repayment assistance for dentists who commit to practicing in Rhode Island.

Why it matters:

• Student loan debt remains a significant barrier for new dentists entering practice.
• Rhode Islanders in many communities continue to experience challenges accessing oral health care.
• The program supports dentists practicing in a variety of settings, including private practices, DSOs and community health centers, helping strengthen the state's oral health workforce.
• The initiative launched in 2025 and represents a long-term investment in improving access to care while helping new dentists build sustainable careers in Rhode Island. 

Applications are open through August 13.

Additional information and applications are available at RIFoundation.org/DeltaDental.