Changes in Dental Exhibitions Reflect the Profession
- Details
- Published: Thursday, 12 October 2023 11:07
- Written by Peter Ingle
- Hits: 1938
It was a revealing conversation that started as two attendees guiltily explained the quantities of sugar going onto their cardboard cups of tea. Happening well into the afternoon inside the Dentistry Show London at the Excel centre, it was between the professions future and its past. A nineteen year old student dental nurse attending their first dental show, and a grizzled veteran who long ago lost count of the number of trips made to the NEC and other venues.
The student had a very positive impression. He had expected the event to be smaller and was also impressed to see trade stands from some familiar names, as well as the CPD presentations. A conversation earlier in the day on the Army stand had set him considering a career in the forces and perhaps training in dental hygiene. He would certainly be back next year.
This was a refreshing counter to the veteran’s view. Arriving just before the show opened, had confirmed that the days of queues to get in as the shutters are raised, have gone. Inside it was quiet but at least the empty spaces of recent shows, were absent. It did not take long to realise that this was as a result of using a somewhat smaller space.
The lanyards remain but the plastic bags and brochures, the flyers and pens, once provided on arrival, have all gone. This may be a happy coincidence of sustainability and rising costs, or reflect the fact that with a show app, fewer samples, and the ability to screenshot slides, they have become redundant.
The days of leaving with a large haul of samples are also gone, with Oral-B deciding to use their promotional budget in other ways, and while Haleon and Colgate were present, the long lines waiting for goodie bags were not. In an age of corporates with central buyers and approved lists, few supply houses or materials manufacturers exhibited. Given that so many of the visitors will not be making purchase decisions there can be little advantage for them in attending.
In the trade space there appeared to be two groups of products that were particularly well represented, intra oral scanners and loupes. Loupes are one of the few items that many associates and employed team members will buy for themselves, and the stands were getting visitors. Shows in the past have always reflected the hot or at least warm products of the time. If the widespread adoption of light curing systems, autoclaves, rotary endo, and digital x-rays was reflected in past trade shows, then this is the age of the scanner.
The range of CPD available would stun an attendee at what were primarily the trade shows of 25 years ago. Some things do not change too much, and waiting for an event outside one of the CPD ‘theatres’ a familiar voice inside could be heard offering listeners more profit in less time, or words to that effect. Chris Barrow was back, or had never been away, and indeed he might claim to be the man who saw the possibilities of the scanner era, before we had any scanners.
The CPD programme reflected the fork in the road for dentistry, one way a public health service and the other a retail lifestyle business. At least two of the scanner evangelists speaking, were offering a vision that appeared to include taking patients from what would have been considered a good smile 10 years ago, to a new improved one, via a considerable amount of ceramic and the departure of a quantity of enamel. Meanwhile, those expecting a presentation on trauma informed dentistry to be an update on avulsed incisors, heard of the very basic challenges that survivors of trauma face in accessing the most basic dental care.
Other observations were that the GDC stand had reverted to a very modest size, The Office of the Chief Dental Officer had no presence either with a stand or presentations, and that while compliance providers were less in evidence, corporates and practice brokers were well represented.
The NHS Business Services Authority had a substantial stand and a large team who were keen to get user input to help make Compass’ replacement an improvement. Anyone wondering how many contracts they will have left to administer when it does go into service, did not need to look very far for clues.
Dental Exhibition
Last year was the final event I decided to attend .Yes it may be great for CPD but to many of the big companies were absent .
Whilst I never left with a bulging bag of goodies I used to be able to take away samples of items I wanted to try , the lack of dental sundry exhibitors made that impossible .
It indeed is no longer a trade show and as such I wonder whether the number of exhibitors will decrease further over the next few years .
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