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Last time I addressed DentalBlog readers, I was fresh off the January dental meeting in Colorado. That meeting was great. Very positive. Since then, I’ve attended a the Chicago Midwinter Conference and the ACE Meeting in Tampa. I’ve seen a cross section of the US and have a perspective of national dentistry attitude. Things are looking up!

The Chicago Midwinter is huge, whereas ACE attracts about 100 dentists. At both meetings, my initial impression from January held true. The dentists in Chicago were buying and looking, and it seemed that everyone had a positive outlook. Unlike a few years ago, dental meetings in 2010 are not full of complaining dentists, but dentists who are gearing up and setting great expectations going forward.

There’s not a lot of truly new technology, but people are buying. I think this shows the downturn in research in development a few years ago; it’s catching up now.

The great outlook at Chicago was reflected at ACE in Tampa. Though the crowd was small, ACE dentists are in the cosmetic niche, so they do a lot or elective work. Even with this small piece of the market, dentists had an encouraging perspective on the future. The three-day conference focused on new ideas for more profitable dentistry. The group was fired up. Everyone has high expectations for upcoming year.

In my office,  we’ve seen a turnaround. Since February, we’ve picked up 25-30%. As of March, elective dentistry has resurfaced, as well. We’ve done a lot of cosmetic cases and consulted on many that will book soon. Hopefully it’s a trend!