Glenn–

We really missed you being there.

I enjoyed Jeff’s presentation, of course, but he really did an excellent job, dealt wiith the pressure well, deflected the barbs thrust at him, and he really did confront Peter and dragged him to see the histology.  Peter looked impressed after explaining the study.

Also, the lecture presentation on Polarized Optical Coerence Tomography (P-OCT) by Daniel Fried of UCSF was very interesting.  It uses a handpiece and light source to emitt near IR light to detect caries and loss of perio structures (eventually) with detailed resolution.  More precise than DIFOTI or Diagnodent.  It is technology in its infancy, but has a lot of promise.  Technology is licensed to Lantis Laser, a private company Craig Gimbel formed some years ago.

I spent a fair amount of time talking with Tom Haney about stuff.  We had some good talks.  He was re-elected manufacturer rep to the ALD board.  I tried out the HCB erbium.  Cuts well in all the right ways.  220 mj/p and 30 hz was interesting.  210 to 240 usec pulse duration, depending on setting.  Couldn’t find anyone at Biolase that knew the PD of the Waterlase.  I think it is 140 usec.  Tom thinks it is more like 100

DEKA laser from Italy was new to the scene.  Pretty mock-up boxes, lots of claims, lots of boasting, no specifics, no FDA, evasive answers from sales rep Chris Justen.  Wouldn’t give details on laser parameters.  Showed mock-ups for Fr Nd:YAG, CO2, Er:YAG.  I’m not holding my breath.  He was off-putting to many.  Like Bryan Pope said, “He’s gonna come here to the US and learn us ignorant folk all ’bout lasers.”

It was amusing to see the YSGG and Opus Dent advocates present their different perspectives on endo research.  I let you fill in the missing pieces….I’ll fill you in when you come down to CDA.

Bob

Hi Allen: I will be there for the meeting working with Continuum (Hoya Con Bio and Global) make sure you come by and say hi

Bob , what an EXCELLENT synopsis. I can read between the lines. I think that certain laser companies are concerned alot about science and the ALD always has a loyal crew of followers for those lasers. It seems that the Millenium is falling into that fold.

On an aside , I am sorry I missed the ALD , but the buzz that was created by the scopes at the Pacific Dental Meeting here in Vancouver was fun to see.

Dr. Jeff Coil (head of endo at UBC) and myself did a lecture + hands on workshop and it went really well and created alot of interest. 2 years ago I had 4 people for the hands on . This year we had 34 I think.

The lecture had double the number of attendees and John Wests scope + endo course was sold out.

He had a full day lecture and he emphasized the role of the microscope and basically said you can do the things I am doing without one.

Great buzz at the booth and Vancouver being my home town and me working hard to legitimize the usage of the scope for ALL procedures it was heartwarming to see.

I missed meeting everyone but we will have a laugh or two at the CDA in April.

Cya

Thanks for the synopsis.

Glenn

Fantastic!!!!!!

Glenn and Bob, I look forward to meeting you in Anaheim!

Al

Howdy all!
My first post to this site. I was at the ALD and have been researching lasers for about 6 months now. I first started the laser search thinking that I was going to buy a hard tissue laser. But …. after as much learning as I felt I needed to make an informed decision I bought a Nd:YAG from Millennium and their excellent support staff of Bob Gregg, Del McCarthy, and Rusty. I believe they are the ONLY company that TEACHES their purchasers HOW to use their new lasers. I am looking forward to my training and the use of this great technology.

Jeff Cranska did a great presentation and anyone with an open mind at the ALD conferance would have had a lot of questions about this technique of laser periodontal therapy™ and its tremendous results.

The ALD conferance for me as a newbie was very good as I took the standard proficiency class and exam and was absorbing as much info as possible. I quickly learned that I had to sort through the bull_ _ _ _ .

Overall the conferance was well run and well attended. The best presentation I saw was at the hospitality suite hosted by Millennium Dental Technologies. Dr. Bob Gregg had a wonderful power point presentation on their Nd:YAG laser and some of their results. I keep absorbing like a sponge about lasers and THIS site is tremendous and a HUGE thank you to Ron Schalter for setting it up.

I hope to pay for my laser soon so I can start to branch out into other laser dentisry in my office. Thanks all for sharing your knowledge.

Todd Ryan
Hillsdale, MI
toddhryandds@email.com

Hey Todd,

Welcome to Ron’s forum!!

Thanks for the very kind words.

It was great to hang with you in Florida. Glad you made the decision to go forward with your PerioLase purchase. But I think you will find just how unbelievably valuable the PerioLase for LPT will be, the training you will get, the support, as well as all the other 101 things a pulsed Nd:YAG can do, including hard tissue stuff.

Thanks again and see you soon.

Bob