I was invited to 3M last weekend to participate in a focus group with some other dentists I know from Dentaltown. It was a great meeting. They wanted our opinions on products, on the dental landscape, on things like buying trends during this down economy and lots of other stuff. They had amazing insight and information on how dentistry has changed so much during the last three years during the economic downturn. We were able to see and use some of their new products coming to market.

One thing that I was excited to learn more about was their new composite block. It has a similar technology to their Filtek Supreme Ultra. Very strong and highly polishable. They were talking about using it for crowns on second molars and on implants, and they spoke of how it was a nice material because the margins will mill even more accurately because composite won't chip the way glass can. They also spoke of how you can finish down the margins to a very thin finish. It looked very promising and I can't wait to get my hands on some.

All in all, it was an excellent weekend. I learned a ton about the amount of research and testing that goes into every product that they release. We also got to go to the new target field in Minneapolis and watch a Twins game. It was a great time, and I really learned a lot. What I learn from these types of meetings is that the companies that we deal with when it comes to CEREC are first class. Companies like 3M, Ivoclar, Vita and Sirona to name just a few. They work very hard to put out great products for us, and I really appreciate their effort. Their hard work makes the dentistry that we do on our patients that much better and I, for one, very much appreciate that.