Dr. David Penn is an orthodontist who practices and teaches in Australia. His company, EOCA, creates cool, unique supplies for clear aligner therapy, and in my practice we use their d.Mistify every day. I caught up with Dr. Penn to discuss EOCA and their favorite products.
Joshua Austin: EOCA is one of my favorite underrated, solution-driven companies in dentistry. A lot of EOCA’s focus is on orthodontic solutions. How did EOCA start and where do your innovative, solution-driven product ideas come from?
David Penn: I have been heavily involved in both the teaching and R and D aspects of clear aligner therapy in Australia since 2007. In tandem, we have treated thousands of patients, which gives us a deep insight into what problems need to be addressed.
Our dental school that I head up focuses on innovation and clinical excellence, which means that we concentrate on creating solutions in aspects of dentistry that are challenging for all our colleagues, particularly in orthodontics and oral medicine.
EOCA is the North American commercial arm of our Australian dental school, in that almost all the products emanate from our own research teams, clinicians, and engineers.
JA: I learned about your company through Munchies—they’ve really been beneficial to my practice and my Invisalign program. Can you explain how Munchies work and why they’re so vital for keeping teeth tracking with aligners?
DP: Munchies were conceived to augment the biomechanics of force-driven clear aligners. We noted in treating thousands of patients that the preprogrammed forces in the aligners were often ill directed, due to the lack of intimacy with tooth surfaces and attachments.
We created a device that would seat the aligner after every reinsertion (meals, oral hygiene) and just as important, protect the morphology of the aligner and thus safeguard the force systems. Used consistently, Munchies optimize predictability and streamline treatment times considerably. Five million have been successfully deployed!
You might also be interested in: Pearls for Your Practice: Munchies Maintain by EOCA
JA: Amazing! Another one of your products, d.Mistify, has really helped Invisalign providers get good and easy photographic records.
DP: We witnessed the struggle that our doctors had producing clinically useful intraoral images. Some of the images taken by the old methods were useless in developing a treatment plan; fog, lack of light, expensive and heavy SLR cameras, complexity of use, and difficulty moving the data were all huge issues.
We created the superb d.Mistify Pro Data Capture Kit, which addresses all these problems elegantly. Any member of any practice can now capture incredible images rapidly and easily.
The d.Mistify Pro Data Capture Kit features the air and light dispersal (ALD) unit, a highly engineered device that consists of a powerful digital light array, in combination with a twin speed fan that generates a continuous air stream up to 7m/sec. This ensures that when mirrors are attached to the device, the reflective surface remains highly illuminated, crystal clear, and free of fog.
Used in tandem with the incredible capabilities of the new-generation cameras in the latest smartphones, high-definition intraoral images are quick and easy to capture, with minimal training for staff.
The d.Mistify kit is invaluable in every realm of dental practice, whether for orthodontic records, educating patients about procedures or areas of concern, reinforcement of oral hygiene protocols, or as a medico-legal record.
The kit has a series of five mirrors, designed for all mouth sizes and shapes, that can be attached to the ALD unit for image capture. The kit comes with the d.Mistify ALD nozzle, which can be attached to provide a powerful airflow to clear saliva and debris from all areas of the mouth.
The device also has a powerful use in the virtual monitoring of periodontal disease and in all orthodontic and clear aligner cases. Patients can easily capture and share quality imagery during active treatment, improving compliance and in the subsequent monitoring of retention protocols and oral hygiene.
JA: For virtual monitoring, would you suggest that dentists sell a d.Mistify unit to their patients?
DP: That is a great way to do this. d.Mistify is recommended for monitoring, triage, and virtual assessment for a broad spectrum of patients. Pediatric, time-challenged, fearful, and geographically indisposed patients all benefit from the ability to share quality imagery of their mouths with a health-care professional.
General assessment, esthetics, periodontal health, and active and retention phases of orthodontics are just some areas of utility of this cost- and time-effective modality.
JA: If there was one thing about d.Mistify that you would want every dentist to know, what would it be?
DP: The key feature of the d.Mistify device is the incredible ability to enable every dental health-care professional, and especially every patient, to capture high-resolution images of any aspect of the oral environment. The implications of them being able to share and utilize the data from these images in every realm of clinical and virtual dentistry is incomprehensible.
Editor's note: This article appeared in the August 2023 print edition of Dental Economics magazine. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.
