With a full day of lectures, panels, and showcases of what’s new and next in dentistry, the event brought new together established experts, forward thinking investors, and new companies.
Ahead of the 2025 Chicago Dental Society Midwinter Meeting, the Windy City played host to a new dental event that showcased a compelling vision of the connected future of the dental industry, as the Dental VIP Summit was not focused on exclusivity, with the name instead standing for Venture, Innovation, Partnering.
Those three words were on display throughout the event’s packed agenda that featured a mix of lectures from respected speakers, panel discussions on everything from dental technology to investing in dental start-ups, and opportunities for the speakers and attendees to socialize and converse.
The day was hosted by Marty Jablow, DMD, and Pair Dental co-founder Darius Somekhian, who welcomed attendees while noting that the pace of innovation and technological adoption is increasing and there is a growing focus on both preventive dentistry and higher esthetic demands from patients.
Keynote speaker Christian Coachman, CDT, DDS, presented 7 key transitions he sees as critical for dentistry to move into a new phase to better serve patients by shifting its mindset from reactive and superficial to holistic and proactive.
“Dentistry is still biased toward the things we like to do the most, the things that we can profit from the most,” he said. “Dentists are rewarded for the wrong reasons.”
Dr. Coachman explained that while technological advances make new things possible, in the end they are just tools and dentists who change their way of thinking about their roles will lead the way to what he referred to as Dentistry 3.0.
“I really like the name of integrative oral physician. That’s what we need to become,” he said.
To get there, dentists need to expand their focus from fixing problems in the teeth and gums to understanding all of the oral systemic connections and collaborating with a wider network of healthcare providers. To do this, dentists will need to create a new business model that awards professionals for the right reasons.
Technology will be a key to this, he said, noting that new solutions are needed to integrate all of the information dentists collect and to standardize how they collect and analyze these details about their patients. Today all of this information is siloed, and systems are needed to make these connections simple and efficient.
“The enemy of interdisciplinary decision making is time, it is not knowhow,” he said.
Following Dr. Coachman, three early-stage dental companies presented their innovative products and business models to a panel of investors in a round of dental shark tank.
Jay Hogan, co-founder of PerfectFitOrtho, presented his company’s turn-key virtual orthodontic solution for general practitioners. Steven Bloembergen, PhD, founder of GreenMark Bio, showcased the research backing his product CrystLCare, a non-fluoride-based treatment for reducing sensitivity and remineralizing tooth structure. Finally, Bill Breitenbach, CEO of Oral Biolife, shared details on his company’s forthcoming periodontal treatment solution that uses a piezo-responsive injectable gel to regenerate bone.
This was followed by a panel on artificial intelligence (AI) in dentistry led by Adriano Araujo, PhD, who kicked things off by noting that we all benefit from an autonomous future because, “we are humans, we need help sometimes. AI is a tool, not the final solution.”
Presentations followed from OraQ founder Amreesh Khanna, DDS; Pearl EVP Mike Buckner and VELMENI CEO Mini Suri. Khanna showcased the ways OraQ considers oral and systemic health to provide clinical decision support, standardizing dental exams and offering consistent diagnostics and recommendations. Buckner then explained how Pearl’s AI radiograph analysis helps patients see and understand what clinicians are trained to see when reading x-rays. Finally, Suri showcased VELMENI’s work to use AI 2D and 3D image analysis to create a more immersive and understandable patient experience.
Dr. Araujo next led a panel discussion on AI in dentistry that included Bernard D. Casse, co-founder and CEO of Trust AI, prosthodontist and AI strategist Reena Gajjar, DDS, Doug Gillespie from DJG Dental Consulting, and Peerlogic head of product Ryan Quinn. The panelists agreed that dentistry is behind medicine in terms of AI integration and application because it is a smaller market. However, the pace of change is increasing and as more data is used to train and improve dental AI systems the technology will be key in improving diagnostics, communications, and collaboration in dental practice.
The second keynote event was a friendly conversation where Paul Feuerstein, DMD, interviewed Glidewell Dental CEO Stephanie Goddard. The conversation covered change management and the programs Goddard led to develop and train new leaders at Glidewell.
“You have to have great leaders in your organization to get through great change,” she said.
This was followed by the first of 2 innovation showcases where small dental companies presented their newest and forthcoming innovations. Up first was Arash Hakhamian, DDS, chief dental officer at AIOBIO, a company that developed BLISS, a biofluorescence-led intelligent screening system that serves as an adjunct to x-rays with its ability to visualize early lesions and other issues. Dr. Hakhamian described it as a digital disclosing agent and demonstrated how it allows for early detection of dental issues. “The less teeth we can cut, the more enamel we can save, the better we are making our profession,” he noted.
Biolectrics co-founder Bill Leimkuehler showed his company’s forthcoming Oraflow device, which is an at-home treatment for periodontitis. Marketed at people who refuse traditional treatments, the company aims to launch the system in 2026, noting they believe it will be the first device for treating periodontitis with FDA clearance.
With plans to launch their device this year, Dentlytec chairman and CEO Michael Howell demonstrated how their DigiProbe automates the work of a perio probe, improving accuracy, saving time, and with the system’s AI integration tracks progress and predicts patient outcomes.
Mantis Health CEO Joshua Aferzon was next, showcasing the digital loupes his company is developing. The technology is currently used in spinal and neurosurgery, and as the company launches its dental solution, it will provide dental professionals with light-weight loupes offering 2.5X-4X magnification via video cameras that will also allow for overlay of CBCT scans, in-loupe photogrammetry, and more.
Image Navigation CEO Lawrence Obstfeld brought his company’s intelligent guided drill that functions like a freehand handpiece for implant placement. The system monitors the drill placement and angulation in real-time, and automatically stops when it is not aligned with the pre-planned treatment. He said the enables flapless surgery without fear of perforation.
The next panel on the packed agenda was focused on investing in dental start-ups featuring Jeremy Krell, DMD, MBA, from Revere Partners; Saul Kaplan from KCA Boutique Investment Partners and Catapult Crown Dental Investment Platform; Johnny Chang de Gruiter, the strategic partnerships lead for CareQuest Innovation Partners; and Mariya Filipova from The 4100 Group. They all agreed investing in start-ups is risky, but there are organizations and structures to make it more accessible to dentists interested in supporting innovative new companies.
A panel on dental disruption featured Bryan Laskin, DDS, co-founder of ToothApps, Trey Tepichin, CEO of Cloud Dentistry, and Ole T. Jensen, DDS, founder and chairman of Ditron Dental. Moderated by consultant Holland Haiis, the discussion focused on the challenges each panelist faced while bringing new ideas to the dental industry.
The second dental innovation showcase featured presentations on a trio of homecare innovations. Kenny Brown, DDS, presented the Feno connected smartbrush that brushes all of a person’s teeth in 20 seconds and features integrated sensors for at-home salivary diagnostics. Heberto Calves showcased the Proclaim custom homecare solution that uses a custom mouthpiece to clean between teeth and gums to reduce inflammation and gingival bleeding in just 7 seconds. Mark Goldstein then showed off the Great Gums bioelectric toothbrush that uses microcurrents to “melt biofilm beneath the gumline.”
The showcase also included a presentation from Arash Hakhamian, DDS, who shared the Dentulu platform that brings dentistry to anyone anywhere via teledentistry and connected solutions including a wide range of innovative partnerships and integrations. Dar Radfar, DDS, DASBA, also took part, sharing the benefits of Erchonia’s low level laser therapy technologies for pain and inflammation reduction.
The final pair of panel discussions focused on technology in dentistry. The Key Opinion Leaders Panel was led by Dr. Jablow and included Dr. Feuerstein, along with John Flucke, DDS, and Pamela Maragliano-Muniz, DMD. They discussed the impact of AI and 3D patient data, along with new preventive materials and technologies.
“I think it’s going to make dentistry more relevant in the eyes of our medical colleagues,” Dr. Maragliano-Muniz said, while Dr. Feuerstein noted that having more diagnostic data will make it easier for clinicians to use the new generation of preventive products.
“The more data you have, the better decisions you make, but someone still has to make those decisions, and that person is the doctor,” Dr. Flucke noted, as the panelists all agreed on the importance of AI solutions serving as tools and not replacements for trained clinicians.
A panel of industry experts also discussed technology in dentistry. Featuring Patterson Dental VP of Business Services Joe Goldstone; American Dental Association SVP, Innovation, Business and Product Development Norman Kwong; MIS Implants founder Motti Weisman; and Eric Pulver, DDS, who serves on the ADA Innovation Committee, the group discussed adoption of new technologies and why dentistry moves more slowly than some people would like. They noted that while many innovations can help clinicians and their patients, too much information is being pushed to dental professionals.
“The biggest challenge facing dentists is that dentists are overwhelmed,” Goldstone said.
Kwong added that the ADA is working to enable innovation by both simplifying FDA review processes for dental innovations and to creating a program to certify new dental products for professional use.
