Suddenly digital impressions were taken using video and incredible high resolution imaging hardware. It's been a similar, though faster, process than digital radiography. What I mean by that is once someone starts doing digital impressions, they never want to go back to analogue ever again.
The last survey we did at Dental Products Report showed a current market penetration of almost 30% meaning we are way past the point of the early adopters.
And if you needed any MORE convincing that digital intraoral scanners are exploding, look no further than the recent announcement from South Korea that Medit, the third largest company in that market, is being acquired for $2 billion dollars.
Medit has made a name for themselves by selling a good, solid performing unit at a price lower than most competitors. Medit devices don't usually have all the bells and whistles that more expensive competitors have, but the company gives doctors great clinical results while also allowing those doctors to get into this market sector on a budget.
I've been into digital impressions for well over a decade now and I can tell you that investing in one of these devices is something I highly recommend.
For the full low down, here is an article that appeared in the Korea Economic Daily...
MedIT has been one of the worst 3rd-party vendors we have ever worked with.
ReplyDeleteWe had non-stop integration problems with them. All users run as administrators on the laptop. The laptops don't (or didn't) have AntiVirus. No full-disk-encryption. They require a wireless network with outdated security (WPA2-PSK) to connect to the internet. Their staff flat-out told IT "don't touch the laptops, don't provide any support, don't encrypt them, don't install AV, don't join them to the domain so they can use WPA2-Enterprise wireless connections, just let us handle everything".
Consequently, the number one call to IT is "Our MedIT laptop is having problems and MedIT isn't responding when we email or call them". "Sorry, you're on your own".
We even emailed them a laundry list of issues relating to their laptops being horribly insecure and said "Since we aren't allowed to touch them, I'm assuming you will be responsible for any damage to the network or leaks of patient data due to viruses because everyone's running as an administrator and you will be paying the HIPAA fines and credit monitoring should we get breached?". They flat-out stopped communicating with our IT department and hang up on us when we call.
It's a neat technology, implemented very poorly with no thought towards protecting patient data.
Yikes! It amazes me how some companies simply ignore things & hope either the problem goes away or that users are not experienced enough to realize...
ReplyDeleteAaron, I appreciate people like you who are concerned and who are fighting the good fight. I wish the profession could clone people like you because I think an army of Aaron's could make some much needed changes in the industry and especially bring vendors to the standards required...