An Interview with Carestream Dental

Marc Gordon, CPA, CFA

General Manager, US Equipment & Software

INSIDE DENTISTRY (ID): What’s one thing you would like dental practitioners—whether they use Carestream Dental products or not—to know about your company?

Marc Gordon (MG): That’s simple—our passion is to support our customers and their practice, drive better clinical outcomes, and make life easier for practitioners and patients.

ID: Can you tell us more about how Carestream Dental lives up to those goals?

MG: For more than 100 years, Carestream Dental has been dedicated to delivering products that drive better clinical outcomes. Since we design and manufacture our own equipment and software, we are able to continually evolve and enhance our products to support today’s dental practice.

Our products are designed by clinicians, for clinicians. This means we work closely with the dental practitioners on our product development and executive teams, as well as our customers, to understand the special needs and workflows of practices. We exist to help practices improve their diagnostic and treatment capabilities while streamlining tasks.

ID: From your perspective, what has been the secret to Carestream Dental’s success?

MG: Our commitment to innovation is def­i­nitely what has led to the success of Care­stream Dental. We invest heavily in research and development to stay ahead of the curve, deliver best-in-class solutions, and expand into new areas. Together with the pioneers of our company (Eastman Kodak, Trophy Radiologie, and PracticeWorks), we have brought many new technologies to dental practitioners first—modern film, digital radiography sensors, orthodontic practice management software, and more.

Additionally, we are at the forefront of CBCT technology, panoramic and cephalometric imaging, and intraoral cameras. In fact, more than 800,000,000 dental images are captured each year with Carestream Dental imaging because we bring products to market that integrate seamlessly into practices’ workflows and enhance interactions with patients.

ID: What do you see as Carestream Dental’s biggest responsibility to the marketplace?

MG: In addition to providing practices with the tools they need, we feel responsible for educating doctors and dental students on new technologies, and we look for opportunities to do just that.

We offer online and onsite training, seminars, webinars, and annual users conferences, as well as a 3D & CAD/CAM Symposium for continuing education. Our dedicated team of installers, trainers, implementers and support help our customers every step of the way.

Additionally, we put practitioners in touch with our thought leaders and long-time customers to share best practices.

ID: Can you tell us what is coming up for Carestream Dental in 2014?

MG: Our top initiatives for 2014 are introducing more doctors to CS Solutions, our new CAD/CAM portfolio; launching new practice management software offerings; further enhancing our already strong customer service; and continuing to innovate in terms of our digital imaging products.

CS Solutions makes designing and milling crowns in a single appointment a reality. The product portfolio includes an intraoral scanner, restoration design software, a milling machine, and the ability to scan conventional impressions with a Carestream Dental CBCT unit. What’s more, CS Solutions is an open system, meaning that practitioners can choose to use the products together or as standalone solutions based on their needs. Developed based on customer feedback, the system enables doctors to complete in-office restoration design and milling in as few clicks as possible.

We will also focus on our practice management software by expanding our cloud offerings and incorporating new functionalities that will enhance usability, leading to more efficient workflows. Finally, we will continue to focus on our customer service as we further improve our strong response and resolution times while simultaneously building out our core digital imaging product portfolios.