The BDTA Dental Showcase 2012 experience

The Dental Showcase was in London this year, so Thursday morning found me arriving at Waterbeach station at the start of a chill Autumnal day, catching the train to London.

The slideshow captures some of the more esoteric scenes captured in a walkabout at Excel.



In contrast to February’s EcoBuild exhibition, which took up the whole of the Excel centre, the Dental Showcase had garnered the riverbank side. Entering ahead of the masses before the show opened with my exhibition pass, I finally found a warm welcome at Stand T07. Ulrich Heker of Teeth’R’Us, longstanding friend and user of my services had booked this years stand to share with Felix Boelle of Hema.

This meant that our stand offered interest both to dentists and dental technicians. Ulrich’s half demonstrated the invisible attachments and telescopic crowns, for which he is now recognised as an author and expert by UK dentists. Felix was demonstrating a new bioceramic tooth replacement system and kits, by ceramindent, of interest to dental technicians. Felix’s team included Orla and Markus from ceramident, once they had battled through the vagaries of hotel booking and chasing up last minute deliveries of materials.

About accommodation in an expensive city. Ulrich is an old hand at exhibitions in London and Birmingham. Forgoing the more expensive hotels, he'd used B&Bs and other small hotels in the past. This time he had found a novel solution and asked me to check it out, www.airbnb.co.uk. Here people  rent out rooms within their houses at a reasonable fee to visitors. Properties are available all over the world including, most importantly, London. Ulrich, his partner Andrea and I were able to stay in a property with six bedrooms, all used by visiting guests, for a mere £20 per person per night. Absolutely amazing in the middle of London.

The rooms were clean, if a trifle bare. We had to use shared bathrooms and showers and some of the fittings were a bit ramshackle. However compared to a hotel that I remember in Paddington, at three times the cost, it was a vast improvement. And all this just 10 min away from Excel. If you are willing to forego luxury for cheap overnight accommodation in one of the most expensive cities in Europe, consider www.airbnb.co.uk!

Ulrich, his partner Andrea and I had past experience at Dental Showcases and soon the newcomers also slotted into our well established routine to maximise everyone’s skills.

My main role was in front of the stand. I'd talk to passers-by . If they were dentists, interested the telescopic dentures,  I'd pass them on to Ulrich. Dental technicians on the other hand, were introduced to ceramident and then passed on to Orla.

We also had copies of the current issue of The Technologist with an article by Ulrich on colour correction during photography of teeth - for dentists who want a good colour reproduction when trying to match existing and new teeth.

Thursday was the quietest day.  Friday at the dental Showcase was busier, again mainly in the morning. Saturday was full house! We were kept on our toes until about half an hour before closing time.

Judging by the crowds gathering around the stand, the existing friends who brought along queries about past & new projects and new contacts for both sides of our stand, this was a good exhibition year.

But the more immediate message, on the train, homeward bound? A thank you from my aching feet – at last a break after three busy days!