A Winning Combination: Patients, Practice & Laboratory By Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, Editorial Director, Dentaltown Magazine

Going the distance to empower every dental practice and engage the patient in understanding treatment plans – The Coach™ joint venture has evolved from three uniquely talented dental companies: Dentsply International, Medvisor Dental and Dental Team Concepts (DTC). The trilogy in dental product development brings together one of the most trusted names in dentistry, a cutting-edge software development firm and the clinical expertise of renowned clinicians and lecturers Dr. Lou Graham and Dr. David Little.

The result – Cercon® Coach – the first in a series of innovative, cost-effective, practice-empowering tools that will instantly bring the patient, office team and dental laboratory into an era of “understanding” one another. Cercon Coach will be available in late October through Dentsply International, dental laboratories and Kodak Dental Systems practice management software systems, SoftDent and PracticeWorks.

The Team Roster

DT: Jeff, how did Medvisor get started and when did you come to the dental market?
Jeff Jackson, Founder, Medvisor Dental: Medvisor Dental is a subsidiary of Reality Engineering. The company was founded in 1997 and we currently reside in Camus, Washington. We started working in the automotive industry and in medical cardiology. All with the same goal in mind – help our clients move from education to understanding. Through virtual 3D animations, we enhance the clients’ (and or consumers’) “understanding” in formats that traditional methods of verbiage, photos and brochures simply fall far short.

We started developing our Medvisor Dental product more than four years ago. We have more than 20 animators and programmers who work directly with key clinicians and universities to develop the patient animations.

DT: How are the patient animations used by your clients?
Jeff Jackson: The concept behind Medvisor Dental is simple: Give the patient the 15 second answer to the 15 second question. We live in a society filled with communication tools. Information overload is widely accepted. As consumers, every eight seconds we see a marketing message of some type. The dental office is no different. Brochures are plentiful. Photo books of before and after cases are nearly always in the reception area. And in some offices expensive “passive” clinical video technology offers excellent information, but in formats that require far more time, and often less patient interaction. We saw an opportunity to simplify this by creating unique interaction features with our customized animations that allow doctor/assistant/hygienist to communicate with their patients in a far more unstructured setting and allow each member to have his or her own style. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

DT: The software sounds sophisticated. Can it be modified to meet the needs of different practice philosophies?
Jeff Jackson: We’re very proud of the product we’ve brought to market. It is an effective software package, which includes more than 150 video animations within all the fields of dentistry. There are many unique features within this software, but the key concepts are:

• This is a patient-based communication tool that allows the dentist, assistant, or hygienist to explain procedures that can vary from the basics of brushing and flossing to following what happens underneath a bridge versus placement of an implant. The software can zoom within a pocket to show details that explain disease or show pH changes with saliva, and thus equate out to hot topics in all areas of dentistry.
• Clinical pictures and images can be imported or exported to create treatment plans or simply customized presentations by any owner of the software.
• The animations allow features such as stop and pause, drawing on the screen for more clarification, notes and other unique features.
• In addition to Medvisor Dental, there is a customized pediatric program called Medvisor Dental Kids. This program features the animated character Brusher Bailey. There are also video games available for the dentist to license to provide to the patients.
• Each office can create customized presentations for each team member, which equates to efficiency and ease of use.

DT: How did you become acquainted with Dr. Lou Graham?
Jeff Jackson: Medvisor Dental and Medvisor Dental Kids launched in the US in late 2005 and in Japan earlier this year. In the midst of our US market launch, we were fortunate enough to be introduced to Dr. Graham through one of his peers. We placed the Medvisor in Dr.Grahams’ operatories in February and soon after he began working with us to expand our library of patient animations. The concept for a mini-Medvisor followed soon after. The initial model – work with dental manufacturers and incorporate procedural training into smaller branded programs that would deliver mini-patient segments along with practice tips and training. This was the first step in developing the vision for Cercon Coach which has expanded in scope and scale since the first concept.

DT: Kerri, joint ventures are unusual for a large company such as Dentsply International. Why did Dentsply get involved with this project?
Kerri Sebring, Director of Marketing, Dentsply Prosthetics: The “why” is quite simple. Dentsply prides itself on finding and collaborating with innovative companies. We’ve built our business launching more than 25 new products every year. In many cases, we use the internal Dentsply Global Performance Systems designed to work in collaboration with our Research and Development as well as Marketing Teams. When a new technology presents itself from an external development source, we review the product against the same criteria as our internal innovation process. With Dentsply’s reputation for quality and innovation we have a rigorous clinical process that all products must pass through before they are Dentsply branded. So, to get back to your “why” question; it is simple – the Medvisor Dental technology combined with the clinical expertise of DTC was an ideal match for our Global Perfor-mance Systems process.

The joint-venture model, while not always typical for Dentsply, has been highly successful in meeting our business expectations in the past and for this particular project. When all of the parties involved have a meaningful ownership in the product development, clinical requirements, marketing and sales efforts the product has a high probability of successfully moving through the development cycle. With Cercon Coach, we had a highly accelerated development timeline in order to meet our American Dental Association launch requirement. The joint-venture model supports this type of accelerated innovation.

DT: How did this idea come together?
Kerri Sebring: The “how” is business 101. Part 1 – Listen to your customers and they will tell you exactly what they want and need. Part 2 – Keep your team constantly looking at innovative ways to meet those wants and needs.

We routinely conduct market research with dentists and laboratories on what they need to help grow their businesses. Keep in mind just like your average consumer – us included; we typically cannot articulate what we want. So, telling sometimes means showing or watching. We can tell you what we don’t like very easily, and if you watch closely you might see the need first. In particular we use a process called “ethnography.” This method uses specially trained researchers and marketing professionals that immerse themselves into daily routines of dental offices and laboratories.

During our last ethnography session we isolated three key areas. The first is that dentists wanted a better way to communicate and educate their patients without feeling like they were selling something or confusing their patients. The second was that dentists run small businesses with turnover and training issues just like big corporations. They have a need to develop consistent training programs to help educate their teams. The third came from our laboratory customers. This was evident and consistent from the first to the last customer we interviewed. There was a need to increase the communication between lab and dentist when it comes to the prescription. This process needed to be easy for the office staff to implement and provide ample information, so the lab could deliver the best possible prosthetic device.

The second part of the Dentsply “how” for Cercon Coach started with a great relationship. I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Graham and Dr. Little on several Dentsply product launches over the last seven years. Typically, we have utilized their clinical expertise on the podium. But March 17, 2006 was no typical visit for Dr. Graham and I. What was to be a routine visit turned into the opportunity Dentsply had been looking for – a chance meeting facilitated by Dr. Graham between myself and Jeff Jackson. It was no accident that Dr. Graham saw the potential of the Medvisor technology and the need for Dentsply to see it. One very long lunch later we all agreed there was huge potential in this “mini-Medvisor” concept for Dentsply. It was good, but it needed to be much more. It had to fulfill all three of our customer needs for the patient, practice and laboratory.

Cercon Coach was officially launched into development only four weeks after this first meeting in Chicago. The Coach strategy for Dentsply evolved quickly at International. The business plan was detailed and the project objectives set forth met all of our market research requirements for the patient, practice and lab. Cercon Coach is just the first product opportunity for the team within this Coach strategy. The only question – can Medvisor and DTC build it? It’s one of my favorite questions for Jeff and Lou. The answer is always the same; Kerri if you can think it we can build it, now that’s innovation!

DT: Dr. Graham, how did your experiences with Medvisor Dental influence this project?
Dr. Lou Graham, President, Dental Team Concepts (DTC): There are many types of dental practices throughout the country and as we all know, there is an identity to each and every practice. Much of an office’s philosophy is directly correlated to the dentists’ team and how well they interact with patients and one another.

One constant issue has always been the communication aspect between the examiner and patient. Intraoral cameras were developed to demonstrate to the patient the clinical issues that were found, and these could include a variety of issues such as fractured or decayed old fillings. The effect was meaningful in that the patient now could identify with the clinical problem, and yet, it was a task to explain to the patient various potential treatments. With this said, last year our office purchased the Medvisor Dental software. This tool helped us put the bracket table away as our mode of explaining clinical situations.

Medvisor quickly became instrumental in enhancing all facets of patient communication for both myself and my team of assistants and hygienists. The true benefit of Medvisor was threefold. First, it became far easier to show “what the heck” we were doing versus verbally trying to explain it! Secondly, the improved patient comprehension minimized potential misunderstandings, which can be problematic for everyone. And thirdly, we simply had more case acceptance especially when it came to bleaching and Invisalign. It is my strong opinion this occurs simply because visualization is the essential ingredient to the process of communication within the office.

DT: Dr. Graham, do you have clinical experience with Cercon?
Dr. Lou Graham: I am regularly asked by various dental manufacturers to test new products, and four years ago Dentsply International asked Dr. David Little and me to work with them and understand a new product called Cercon zirconia. Now, four years later and well over 1,000 units in place, we certainly feel very excited about the long-term potential of this product. A key part of the relationship has been the ability to work with Dentpsly and to be involved as they improve its system. Two essential improvements have involved both the esthetics of the material and equally important, the fit. Dentsply’s new porcelains literally are night and day with how natural they can make these restorations, and with its new Cercon ART CAD/CAM system, the fits have improved dramatically. With that said, David and I couldn’t be more excited about Cercon Coach because we feel this is a product that can help integrate both what the clinician wants to deliver and create the desire for excellence from the patient.

DT: Certainly your experience with clinical consulting played a large role in this partnership, tell me more about the creation of this triumvirate.
Dr. Lou Graham: It was a happenstance meeting in my office between trusted vendors. I’ve known Kerri long enough to know when she sees something she likes, you better get on board. After more than nine years with Dentsply, she has an eye for spotting new technologies and a marketing talent to shape them into winners. Medvisor Dental was a winner in my practice, so it was no accident that I wanted them both on my team – team Coach.

My role in the Cercon Coach focuses on what DTC does best – clinical consulting. Initially, DTC’s primary focus was entirely education, and we’ve had the privilege of teaching thousands of clinicians and dental teams throughout the world. As I started integrating the Medvisor animations into my programs, it became quite evident the level of audience participation and retention of information increased significantly. Through my relationship with Kerri and Dentsply along with Jeff and Medvisor, they asked us to embark on a new journey – product development. DTC would provide the clinical expertise to assist Medvisor and Dentsply in creating the new patient and practice animations along with the e-Script.

DT: What are your thoughts going forward with this product, Dr. Graham?
Dr. Lou Graham: It’s been a great ride watching Cercon Coach launch in North America and I expect it will continue as it is introduced in worldwide markets – Asia and Europe in early 2007 and Mexico/South America soon after…the potential is simply limitless. Watching audiences of my peers and their teams react so positively to the Cercon Coach in our focus groups is proof to the enthusiasm that all three companies have poured into the product over the past six months. The future of DTC is most definitely focused on taking our education to understanding with our partnership with Dentsply and Medvisor.

DT: The Cercon Coach joint venture between Dentsply, Medvisor and Dental Team Concepts is a winner. It is a testament to the passion that comes from true innovation and collaboration. The genuine love for the journey and the Cercon Coach comes through the minute you talk to everyone involved. You can’t help but get wrapped up in their success.