Digital Dentistry & Dental Technology 2026

This session begins with a simple but provocative question: why do we use abutments at all? From there, it explores how digital workflows are challenging long-held assumptions in implant prosthetics. Tracing the evolution from traditional analogue techniques to fully integrated digital systems, this session focuses on how emerging design and manufacturing approaches are reshaping the way dental technicians think, plan and work. Whereas almost all dental implant systems were conceived prior to CAD/CAM workflows being developed, the TRI Matrix implant, conversely, is the first truly digital implant system that embraces the way precision digital manufacturing produces prosthetics, whether using milling or 3D printing. In doing so, the need for a separate abutment and with it, the cement used for attaching abutment to crown – a key suspect in the rise of peri-implantitis – are eliminated. Attendees will gain practical insights into how digital integration can simplify processes, reduce variability and improve consistency in everyday lab work. Ideal for technicians looking to future-proof their workflows, this session offers a fresh perspective on where implant prosthetics is heading—and what that means for the modern dental laboratory.

This session focuses on the practical side of keeping your digital workflow running without interruption. Using the Scan. Design. Manufacture. framework, we break down where failures actually occur and how to prevent them before they impact patients and production.

Starting at the scan stage, we look at how poor data capture, overscanning, and incorrect case selection create problems that show up later as remakes, delays, or failed manufacturing. Getting this right reduces downstream risk immediately.

In the design phase, we focus on designing for manufacturing, not just aesthetics. Understanding tool limitations, spacer settings, material behaviour, and software workflows ensures your cases are predictable and do not fail at the mill or printer.

The manufacturing stage is where downtime becomes visible. We cover real-world maintenance and service requirements for printers and mills, including tool life management, cleaning protocols, calibration, and recognising early warning signs before failure occurs. This is not theoretical maintenance, but what actually matters day to day.

A key part of this session is planning for continuity. We cover how to structure your setup to avoid single points of failure, including the role of backup equipment, spare consumables, and workflow redundancy. The goal is simple: if something stops, your production should not.

By the end of this session, you will have a better understanding of how to run a reliable, repeatable workflow that supports unattended production, reduces remakes, and keeps your clinic or lab moving without disruption.

Periodontal disease is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions globally, yet remains systematically underdiagnosed. Despite affecting over one billion people worldwide, detection today still relies on time-intensive, variable, and poorly scalable methods that are applied inconsistently in routine care.

This session examines the current state of periodontal screening and where the system is breaking down. We will explore the clinical limitations of manual probing and conventional radiography, and how the biology of periodontal disease (characterised by long, asymptomatic progression) creates a significant diagnostic gap. In practice, many patients are diagnosed only after irreversible damage has already occurred.

At a system level, this results in low screening rates, high variability in diagnosis, and delays that can span years. These are not isolated challenges, but structural limitations that prevent early detection at scale.

This presentation sets the context for why a fundamentally different approach to periodontal diagnostics is needed and lays the groundwork for the next session, which will explore how emerging technologies are beginning to address this gap.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is beginning to reshape how dentists diagnose and plan treatment, not as a future concept, but in everyday clinical workflows. This session explores how these technologies are being applied in practice to improve accuracy, efficiency and consistency in dental care.

Focusing on diagnostic workflows, we will examine how AI supports the detection of caries, periapical lesions and other pathologies in 2D radiographs, alongside the growing role of 3D CBCT segmentation in enabling clearer, faster treatment planning.

Through real clinical examples, including award-winning technologies such as Eyes of AI’s ‘EAI Detect’ and ‘EAI Segment’, the session will demonstrate how AI can be embedded into clinical workflows with minimal disruption, improving efficiency, decision-making and patient communication.

We will also briefly explore how these capabilities extend across the broader digital workflow, while maintaining a focus on diagnostics as the area where the impact is already being realised.

This session is designed for clinicians seeking practical, real-world insight into adopting AI and understanding where it delivers immediate value in practice today.

Perio-Detect is a world-first AI-powered periodontal screening and monitoring system, supported by a $2.2M Australian Government CRC-P grant and led by the Sydney Dental School at the University of Sydney in collaboration with Eyes of AI. By integrating 3D CBCT and intraoral imaging with advanced AI, the platform enables rapid, non-invasive and highly accurate detection and prognostic assessment of periodontal disease. Early findings highlight the potential of automated analysis to support clinical decision-making. The integration of such technology into dental practice could fundamentally reshape periodontal care by improving diagnostic consistency, reducing reliance on invasive methods, enabling personalised treatment planning, and optimising specialist resources. Importantly, it offers a pathway to improved access to advanced periodontal diagnostics in rural and underserved communities, with significant implications for both oral and systemic health outcomes.

When you ask ChatGPT: “I have a dental practice in Australia. Who is the best person to get to come and train my receptionists on how to answer the phones better?”

The answer is Jayne Bandy.

Jayne Bandy and her husband Dr David Moffet are the co-founders of Jayne Bandy AI™, the #1 AI Dental Receptionist built exclusively on Jayne Bandy’s proven World Class IP.

In 2025, David and Jayne used Jayne’s protected and quarantined IP to develop Jayne Bandy AI™, the only dental AI receptionist based on real data, not just Large Language Model (LLM) projections.

Because of this, Jayne Bandy AI™ is truly unique in the dental AI receptionist space, because it’s not based on robotics and the “polluted” world wide web. It’s based on listening to real live patient calls being answered in real time by dental receptionists who are often under the pump, under-trained, and sadly underwhelmed with the responsibility entrusted to them.

If you’re seriously looking to see what Jayne Bandy AI™ will do in your dental practice, and why it’s really the only choice to make, then you don’t want to miss David and Jayne’s presentation.

This session addresses one of the most critical—and most misunderstood—steps in digital dentures: the scan. If the data is wrong, everything that follows is compromised.

Terry Whitty breaks down the clinical realities of scanning edentulous patients, focusing on tissue behaviour, instability, and the importance of capturing a true mucostatic baseline. You’ll see how subtle errors in technique translate into major issues in fit, function, and patient comfort.

Practical strategies will be demonstrated for stabilising soft tissue, controlling movement, and producing scans that are not only visually accurate but clinically usable. This session bridges the gap between theory and execution—showing how to consistently capture data that leads to successful outcomes.

Dental metal printing is often presented as revolutionary—but rarely explained properly. This session provides a clear, grounded understanding of how SLM works in a dental context, from powder handling and laser fusion through to support structures and post-processing.

Rather than focusing on marketing claims, this presentation explains what actually happens during the process, what the limitations are, and what kind of output can realistically be achieved. It also positions metal printing alongside traditional casting, highlighting where each method performs best.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a solid, practical understanding of the technology and where it fits into a modern workflow.

A digital workflow is only as strong as the system running it. Many performance issues—slow design, crashes, rendering problems—come down to incorrect hardware choices and poor system configuration.

This session explains what truly matters in a digital dental workstation, including CPU vs GPU performance, RAM requirements, storage considerations, and system optimisation. It also addresses common misconceptions that lead to overspending or underperforming systems.

The goal is to provide a clear framework for selecting, setting up, and maintaining a system that supports efficient, stable digital workflows.

Digital denture design is not simply a translation of analogue techniques into software—it requires a different way of thinking. This session introduces the exocad denture workflow in a practical, realistic way.

Terry Whitty walks through the process from scan to setup, highlighting key decision points, common pitfalls, and the limitations of the software. Rather than presenting an idealised workflow, the session focuses on what actually happens in practice and how to work effectively within those constraints.

Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of how to approach digital design in a way that produces consistent, manufacturable results.

Reliable printing is built on consistency, and consistency comes from proper maintenance. This session focuses on the day-to-day practices that keep printers operating at a high level.

Topics include cleaning protocols, resin management, calibration, environmental considerations, and identifying the root causes of print failures. Rather than reacting to problems, the emphasis is on preventing them through structured maintenance routines.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to stabilise their printing workflow and reduce costly downtime.

While 3D printing continues to grow, milling remains a critical part of digital dentistry. This session explores the strengths of milling systems, particularly in areas such as accuracy, material properties, and surface finish.

Roland DG presents how milling integrates into modern workflows, where it complements printing, and where it still provides a clear advantage. Real-world applications and material options will be discussed to give attendees a balanced view of manufacturing choices.

This is a practical, interactive session where attendees can step in and use the Aoralscan Elite themselves. The focus is on developing a feel for the scanner—how it behaves, how it captures data, and how to control the process in real time.

Participants will have the opportunity to test scanning techniques, work through common challenges, and receive guidance on how to produce clean, accurate datasets. Particular attention will be given to managing soft tissue and avoiding errors that compromise results.

This session provides valuable hands-on experience that cannot be gained through observation alone.

Building on the introductory session, this presentation moves into the practical realities of metal printing. Topics include framework design, support strategies, orientation, post-processing, and finishing techniques.

Real-world applications will be explored, showing where metal printing delivers clear advantages in terms of design flexibility and production efficiency. The session also addresses integration into existing workflows and the commercial considerations involved.

This is where the technology moves from concept to implementation.

Photogrammetry is often promoted as the next step in digital capture—but what does it actually deliver? This session provides a clear, critical evaluation of the technology.

It explains how photogrammetry captures spatial relationships differently to intraoral scanning, why this matters for full-arch accuracy, and where the advantages are genuine. At the same time, it addresses the limitations and areas where expectations may be overstated.

Attendees will leave with a balanced, practical understanding of where photogrammetry fits—and where it doesn’t.

This session moves beyond traditional shade selection into the science of how we see colour. Yahya Karim explores the interaction of light with natural teeth and restorative materials, including concepts such as hue, value, chroma, translucency, fluorescence, and surface texture.

By understanding how light is transmitted, reflected, and scattered, attendees will gain a deeper appreciation of why restorations sometimes appear flat, grey, or mismatched. The session provides practical insights into controlling these variables to achieve more natural, lifelike results.

This is about understanding colour at a fundamental level and applying that knowledge to improve aesthetic outcomes.

A practical demonstration focused on efficiency in finishing. This session shows how stain and glaze techniques can be simplified without compromising aesthetic quality.

Attendees will see how streamlined workflows and modern materials allow for faster turnaround while maintaining consistency and visual appeal. The emphasis is on practical application rather than complex layering techniques.

Digital dentistry often promises efficiency—but many workflows remain slow, fragmented, or unnecessarily complex. This session focuses on refining existing systems to improve performance without major reinvestment.

Chris Hart shares practical strategies for streamlining processes, reducing bottlenecks, and improving communication between clinical and laboratory stages. The emphasis is on making digital workflows function smoothly in everyday practice.

Attendees will gain insights that can be applied immediately to improve efficiency and outcomes.

A detailed look at how digital dentures are manufactured across different systems. This session compares milling and printing workflows, examining material properties, processing steps, and finishing requirements.

Key stages where quality is either achieved or compromised are highlighted, providing a clear understanding of how manufacturing decisions affect the final result. The session brings together the full workflow—from data capture through to delivery.

This session explores how Heygears approaches modern dental manufacturing through integrated systems, materials, and workflow design. The focus is on achieving consistent, repeatable results while improving efficiency and throughput.

Attendees will gain insight into how automation, material control, and system integration can simplify production and reduce variability.

A second hands-on session designed to reinforce technique and build confidence. Attendees will have another opportunity to use the scanner, refine their approach, and improve speed and accuracy.

Guidance will be provided to help troubleshoot challenges and improve consistency in real-time scanning.