Inaugural exocad Insights congress

Darmstadt, Germany is a small city just outside Frankfurt and holds the official title "City of Science" as it's a major centre of scientific institutions, universities, and high-technology companies. It's also home to dental technology software company exocad.

In November 2018, the inaugural "exocad Insights" congress was held and I was one of the attendees alongside almost 600 technicians, dentists and industry professionals from all over the world who attended the event held at the Darmstadtium international congress centre.

Over two days, the exocad Insights conference opened with a welcome by Novica Savic, the Chief Compliance Officer of exocad, followed by an address from exocad CEO, Tillmann Steinbrecher. A full day of interesting specialist lectures by internationally renowned speakers followed.

Larry Bodony from exocad USA gave a great overview of exocad solutions while Waldo Zarco Nosti gave an introductory lecture on exocad's new Smile Creator Module, which had the entire audience hanging with anticipation. This software not only creates the familiar 2D smile "design" but automatically converts this to 3D, ready for 3D printing or milling depending on your needs.

The new exoplan digital implant planning software was presented by Uli Hauschild and as a special surprise, the certificate of conformity for the new exoplan release, including the new Guide Creator module, was signed on stage by Tillmann Steinbrecher, CEO of exocad, and Maik Gerth, CTO of exocad, in front of the audience. This certificate will now help the certification process of the software and it will be rolled out shortly. Being a medical device, it has strict guidelines and compliance testing it must pass before distribution. exoplan has been in development for years and the final demonstration shows off the company's attention to detail approach and also their philosophy of not releasing anything until it is perfected and stable.

exoplan has the potential to become the new gold standard in implant planning software with a plethora of features and the ability to link with exocad DentalCAD makes it a powerhouse.

Michael Anger gave a great overview of the exocad partial denture design software, which was acquired from the Sensable Company some years back and has now been updated and incorporated into the suite of exocad tools. It is intuitive and very flexible, so any type of partial design is possible and it fits into the exocad family perfectly.

Dr Jan Hajto gave an interesting lecture on digital vs analog workflows and his opinions on both and where and when he feels they should and shouldn't be used was insightful.

To finish the lectures on the day one, Dr Henning Beck, a neurobiologist, gave a lecture on the unique way how human brain works and if the rise of Artificial Intelligence could match it. Fascinating stuff to say the least.

After the first day lectures was an event held for all attendees including dinner and live music; a great way to socialize, network and basically get to know people from near and far using exocad and its partner products.

Day two started with a morning of presentations from partners Amann Girrbach, Align Technology, Medit, Shining 3D, CIM System, Elos, imes-icore, Nobil-Metal and smart optics. This was an in-depth look into how their products integrate with exocad software solutions.

After lunch, there were practical software demonstrations given by exocad experts in four languages covering exoplan, PartialCAD, DentalCAD and also a clinical stream covering topics such as differences in intraoral scanners; advantages of digital impressions; digital dentistry in practice; and others.

The new exocad ChairsideCAD software was also demonstrated. This is a new software package that makes designing chairside restorations easy and effortless.

To finish off the lectures for the last day was an enthusiastic, practical overview of 3D printing technologies by Vanik Kaufmann-Jinoian. He had some great advice and tried to unravel the myths and realities of additive manufacturing.

During the whole convention, partner companies including Wacom, DG Shape by Roland, Shining 3D, Elos, CIM System, Carestream, NextDent and many others were available in two large areas to discuss their products and how they integrate with exocad, so you got to get hands-on if inclined.

Overall, it was a great event - well-organised and executed. The next exocad Insights event will take place March 12 and 13, 2020 in Darmstadt, so don't miss it!