Dental News - Yes, you can ‘take it with you’

Robin Goodman, DTA

Sat. 30 January 2010

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In an interview with Dental Tribune conducted during the recent Yankee Dental Congress, Ben Waldman, a sales manager with DEXIS, discussed the company’s new Platinum Sensor, its features and benefits — and its use by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What is different about the new Platinum Sensor?
The Platinum Sensor has several differences compared to what we call the “classic sensor,” which is the sensor that brought DEXIS into being the No. 1 digital X-ray company. First off, the Platinum Sensor is a direct digital connection, which means it plugs directly into a USB.

There are no other boxes, buttons or interfaces. Dentists and clinicians like the fact they can plug it in, choose the images they want to take and then start taking X-rays immediately.

It’s a very portable and sleek design. We designed the sensor so that it has a more active image area and, at the same time, it is a smaller form factor because we changed the bevels on the edges and the packaging so it’s more comfortable for the patient in the mouth, and yet clinically there’s more image area.

Are there any improvements in the area of image quality?
Indeed, we’ve gone up to 16,000 shades of gray with our true image technology. What clinicians find is that they can enlarge the image without the pixelization that other digital images can get. Thus, clear images, more comfort and easier to use.

What sort of support is there once a dentist purchases the Platinum Sensor?
DEXIS has a unique system in dental and digital radiography in that we have a “pre-sales support team.” This means that clinicians who are not even customers yet have a support team that is there to help them gather the data to make the decision about which system is best for their practice.

Then we have a “new owner support team” that handles things such as transition, installation and training. Every DEXIS owner gets a full day of clinical training in his or her office, and he or she has the option of receiving C.E. credits for this training.

After the clinician has completed the initiation and orientation period, which is about the first month or so of owning the device, the clinician moves on to the “owner support team.”

Thus, at every step of the process we recognize that the practitioners are at different stages technically and experientially, so we have different people to take care of them at every stage of their ownership.

As regional sales manager, what is your region and how much are you involved in the adoption process for individual dentists?
I am in offices every day, six days a week in fact. My region is Virginia, West Virginia and parts of Maryland. Last year I think I visited 370 offices, which is a little more than one office a day and this includes weekends.

I’ve seen everything, starting with a solo practitioner who has two chairs and no other staff members. This dentist lets one patient in, locks the door and does his own hygiene and everything else. Then, when done, he escorts the patient to the door and lets the next patient in.

So I’ve seen practices such as this solo practice to my biggest office, which has 120,000 patients in its database. It has 122 operatories in the building.

I heard that the military has adopted DEXIS’ Platinum Sensor. Is this true? If so, what can you tell me about this?
The Army has deployed 750 sensors to Iraq and Afghanistan, which means that every forward operating base that has dental has a DEXIS Platinum Sensor. They did that because of the sensor’s portability, the fact that it’s a single sensor and it’s very sturdy. The military did its own testing on a rugged laptop.

For the military, the system has to be easy to use because you have people going in and out all the time. Enlisted staff members don’t serve their entire tour in Iraq and Afghanistan as these people are on a three-month or six-month rotation.

You simply cannot have a complex system with this high level of staff rotation. It must be easy to train on, easy to use and portable. So all of those things were taken into account when the military did its own testing, and it chose DEXIS.

The military not only chose it for the initial system, when it ordered 45 sensors, but it also upgraded to 500 sensors and then asked for 250 more.

In fact, next week we are also putting one into the National Guard stations. Thus, we have this wide range of practices using this sensor.

For more information about the Platinum Sensor, contact DEXIS.

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