A guide to attending your first dental exhibition – ‘definitely not to be missed’

Zaira Cantara reports back from her first dental exhibition and explains why you won’t want to miss the next free-to-register FMC event.

Over the weekend I attended a highly anticipated event, The North of England Dentistry Show. And what an experience it was!

With last year’s event ruled out due to COVID-19, there was no chance I was going to miss out this year’s as well.

As a third year BDS student, I had a vague idea of what to expect from this event; many people in one room passionate about one thing – dentistry.

Whilst that is true, the room echoed with a variety of people from students like myself, practice owners, dental associates, business men/women to directors and CEOs.

Programme for the day

Arriving at the show I was handed a ‘Programme of the Day’ schedule filled with lectures in different theatres including business, clinical, CPD and cosmetic etc. This gave me the opportunity to seek out the talks I was interested in.

The lectures were all on one floor along with the stands, so it was easy to get around in time for each lecture between browsing stands.

In all honesty, I was slightly intimidated when I first arrived. How does a student fit in with each stand? With people exchanging business contact details, product information, purchase transactions and entertaining conversations about their latest ventures in dentistry.

But that changed once I began to ease into each stand. Many exhibitors emphasised how important it was for students to use this as a networking advantage, which is the main reason I attended.

In front of my eyes were many dental instruments, equipment and colourful technology; some familiar, but some completely new.

I was hit with the realisation of why I decided to become a dentist. As well as how dentistry is ever evolving, stimulating and changing for the better when it comes to clinical interactions between operators and their patients.

Leading speakers

My first talk was by Dr Robbie Hughes, owner of  Dental Excellence, UK.

As a follower of Dr Hughes’ work over the past few years, his expansion with his company and business ethic is admirable for practising dentists, let alone students.

He spoke on the 3shape Trios digital scanner. He pointed out how this was a cornerstone of his cosmetic dentistry business, showing us real life cases of how digital impressions and scanning is improving patient experience, accuracy of treatment and time.

Not having used a digital scanner as of yet, this was something to look forward to. And also highlighted why it is becoming as popular as it is.

Soon after there was a talk by Stephen Davies and Dr Amy Burns. They discussed ‘Masters in advanced restorative dentistry’. They touched on learning a blended pathway to clinical excellence in restorative cases, including real life cases supporting evidence based dentistry.

Dentistry like many professions takes its fair share of complaints. Management of this can sometimes be vague to someone who is entering the field.

However, Simrit Ryatt, a dentolegal consultant at Dental Protection with an impressive portfolio, spoke on managing complaints with confidence and how having a third-party assessor like Dental Protection can offer support to professionals out there.

The take home message, more importantly, was how we can reduce and minimise complaints by precipitating factors from the moment the receptionist welcomes the patient to the last follow up treatment. Practices can create a patient-focused and friendly environment as a team.

What’s going on in the exhibition hall?

In between talks I took advantage of the time trying out the Bambach Saddle Seat.

The seats are ‘Scientifically proven to help you sit upright and stable, preventing posture related problems’.

Very convincing and appealing, I tried several with the exhibitors guiding me on the best usage.

The support I had from their standard seats (adults and paediatric) right up to the Armon Zero Gravity Chair, which provided arm support for the working hand was phenomenal. It made my arm feel weightless as I moved around. This was again another moment proving a collaboration of technology can give comfort in the workplace.

Next stop was Evident Loupes. Loupes are becoming increasingly popular not just amongst dentists but also students.

I have tried the Essential loupes from Evident and was keen on trying out the HD loupes ranging from 2.3x to 3.3x magnification, all stylish and lightweight in their ranges.

The clarity blew me away. I could see every single curvature of cusp in detail as I viewed the mock model of teeth. I would say the higher magnification is great for specialist work such as endodontics. However, the 2.3x magnification gave me a wider range of view. As a student, I am more than happy to start with them.

Anything is possible with hard work

Late in the afternoon, it was time for some business talk from Ashley Latter. He is a managing director of his own company and specialises in communication coaching for dentistry.

Ashley gave a talk (and drew an impressive crowd) on how to increase your dental business within 90 days. He highlighted how to build up key relationships with patients. Before moving on to growing your following on social media and being confident in your practice fee prices.

We need an informative lecture like this more than ever following COVID. In particular how dental practices can look to get back to normal, whilst making it easy on patients.

Finally my last talk left me more motivated than ever. Dr Jana Denzel, a restorative and cosmetic dentist in London, speaking on achieving success as a dentist in the new age of digital marketing, dental psychology and Slow Dentistry (a non-profit international organisation promoting improvement for advanced patient care).

Not only a dentist, but an entrepreneur. Jana spoke of his background as a child of refugees, his support from his family in becoming a dentist and his vision board over the next few years leaving me and the rest of the attendees inspired; judging by the celebrations of applauding, he truly deserved it after delivering such an engaging lecture.

A take home message from him – anything is possible with hard work and commitment.

Don’t miss out!

Overall, The North of England Dentistry Show in Manchester was well worth the wait, the travel and sacrificing a weekend day of catching up with lectures.

My posts on social media from that day had many students messaging me on what event did I attend and how fantastic it looked.

This only secured my confirmation for registering at next year’s event. As a student it was a great experience. It’s free to attend and it serves its purpose with many lectures and topics covered.

It’s definitely not to be missed.


To find out more about FMC events and register for one near to you, simply visit dentistry.co.uk/shows.

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