An Inside Look at Den-mat
Santa Maria, California
Interviewee:
Cyrus Tahmasebi, DDS, Vice President of Clinical Education and Development
Inside Dentistry (ID): The dental industry and the oral healthcare arena have been changing rapidly within the past 5 to 10 years. What do you see as the mostsignificant of those changes?
Cyrus Tahmasebi (CT): The past decade has been a time of great change in the area of oral healthcare. Perhaps the most significant shift has been the focus on minimally invasive dentistry, where Den-Mat continues to lead the industry with LUMINEERS. Providing dentists with new diagnostic tools is another area of significant change. Our VELscope powered by Sapphire technology allows dentists to conduct examinations for the presence of suspicious oral lesions. Now, dentists can not only change lives by creating new smiles but also stand on the front line in the fight against oral cancer. Den-Mat, LUMINEERS, and VELscope powered by Sapphire are at the forefront of practice-benefiting and patient-friendly—or even life-saving—treatment options.
ID: In what ways—both internally and in dealing with the broader oral healthcare marketplace—has your companyresponded to these changes?
CT: By developing new and effective treatment options for dentists and their patients, like LUMINEERS.
The philosophy behind LUMINEERS is to preserve natural tooth structure whenever possible. Most patients are appropriate candidates for no-prep or minimal cosmetic contouring (enamelplasty only). Together, dentists and patients can decide how much reduction is best, and dentists can choose the technique that best fits the case.
LUMINEERS porcelain veneers are made from a proprietary, ultra-strong porcelain that allows them to be made as thin as a contact lens without increased risk of breakage. These features enable LUMINEERS to be placed without the need for anesthetic, extensive prepping, or temporaries. For that reason, LUMINEERS cases can be completed in as few as two visits, meaning LUMINEERS are dramatically more efficient for the practice and convenient for the patient.
At Den-Mat, we are totally focused on creating product solutions that preserve, restore, and enhance the teeth...and that ultimately contribute to both the clinical and practice success of our customers. Giving dentists the most effective treatment options and clinical tools possible is our constant focus.
ID: What do you see as your biggest responsibility to the marketplace, and why does your choice rank as your #1 priority?
CT: Since the founding of the company, our fundamental mission has been to develop products that allow the dentist to preserve, restore, and enhance the teeth without the extensive cutting, drilling, and tooth removal that have characterized dentistry in the past. We are committed to leading dentistry with minimally invasive clinical options, and that remains our #1 priority. We are also committed to providing new diagnostic tools like VELscope powered by Sapphire to expand dentists’ clinical practice into new areas of great benefit to their patients. Ensuring the success of our dentists and consistently outstanding results for their patients is why we are here.
ID: What product categories—whether preventive, restorative, operative, auxiliary, diagnostic, etc—do you feel are most in need of innovation based on whatis currently available?
CT: Den-Mat has long been recognized for developing truly innovative treatment options for minimally invasive esthetic treatment options. However, our recent entry into a new category with VELscope powered by Sapphire, a truly innovative lesion-detection technology, as I’ve already discussed, gives dentists the potential of discovering pre-cancer, cancer, or other diseases through the direct fluorescence visualization of oral mucosa. Early detection is critical to increased survival rates, and we are very excited to provide that ability to the profession with this new diagnostic technology.
ID: What do you see as the best approach to the research, development, testing, and ultimate delivery to the market of such neededadvancements?
CT: There is no better approach than working with dentists every day to understand their needs—both from the clinical standpoint as well as in terms of effective practice management. Den-Mat has always been recognized for its commitment to high-quality Continuing Education programs through the American Society for Clinical Research, and we will continue to lead the industry with innovative, effective workshops.
Our Destination Education 3-day program is a very exciting aspect of our commitment to Continuing Education. We bring together a world-class panel of leaders in dentistry to give participants real clinical and practice management tools that they can immediately put into practice. It is full of live patient treatment demonstrations, hands-on simulated clinical procedures, and diagnosis and treatment planning sessions. It is also designed to be a great experience for every attendee. Our next Destination Education event is scheduled for this fall at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It is going to be an absolutely unforgettable event.
ID: There are many challenges facing dentistry and oral healthcare today. How is your company helping to resolve them?
CT: Leading research and development. Outstanding continuing education. Ongoing innovation. Of course, that is probably what most companies would say, but we are making it happen at Den-Mat. A current example of this is LUMITray, an innovative new technology for digitally designed, all-at-once placement of LUMINEERS. Clinicians will be able to seat up to 10 LUMINEERS at one time. As discussed previously, VELscope powered by Sapphire oral lesion detection technology actually empowers dentists to possibly save lives—it does not get any better than that. In our more traditional role of leading the way to new levels of esthetic achievement, we are continually working on innovative esthetic treatment options. Our CE programs are going to be more dynamic than ever, and the Destination Education program in Las Vegas later this year is going to be very exciting!
It is really all about working together with dentists to create superior clinical and diagnostic solutions and providing the support and commitment to continuing education that will make a real difference in the practice.
About the Interviewee
Cyrus Tahmasebi, DDS
Vice President of Clinical Education and Development
Den-Mat Headquarters
Santa Maria, California
