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DTA CEO Update
- Oral Health Care Can't Wait
- Annual Meeting
- Trade Shows
- Regulatory Affairs and Standards
Dear Colleague:
Welcome spring today! Let's dedicate ourselves to a positive attitude for the remainder of the year.
The TV news commentators are determined to drag us down and depress us.
Let's turn them off and go out and actively promote our business with a big smile. "Oral Health Care Can't Wait."
I hope everyone in the industry will communicate this to their customers and encourage them to be proactive with their patients.
We can't just sit and wait for the recession to end and 'hope' we come out all right.
We have to take responsibility and we have to take action!
We have begun discussions with our colleagues in the professional societies and the non-profits in oral health care to
launch a campaign to reach dentists and their patients with the message that oral health care can't wait.
We simply must communicate this positive message to promote our industry.
I'll keep you up to date on the progress we make in gaining partners in this effort.
Also note that we will repeat our survey of dentists beginning in a couple of weeks.
We'll compare the results to our December survey and make this available to you in April.
Annual Meeting
Many of you have made reservations at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill for our Annual Meeting on August 11-13.
You can make reservations by calling 800.233.1234.
Be sure to mention that you want the Dental Trade Alliance rate.
You can also book on-line at the following link: http://washingtonregency.hyatt.com/groupbooking/wasrw2009dta1
If you wish to upgrade to Regency Club or to a suite, please call the reservation number.
Ask for the DTA rate, then ask for an upgrade. It'll work better that way.
Our program committee is working very hard to retool our program to give you the most take-away for your time.
You will not be disappointed. This is not a year that any of our members should miss the DTA Annual Meeting.
Make your reservations now! Registration and program materials will be forwarded to you the second week of April.
Trade Shows
Hinman:
Good news from the Hinman meeting on its opening yesterday. Several reports that traffic was really good and so were sales.
Let's hope that trend continues through the weekend.
Chicago mid-winter attendance was down, but that was primarily in international attendance.
Our friends in Chicago will be moving to their new facility at McCormick next year with more space and amenities.
Remember that they responded positively to our request and have moved their exhibits to Thursday through Saturday.
I'm also pleased to report that several of the larger regional shows are seriously looking at implementing RFID technology in
2010 to track floor attendance and improve lead retrieval.
This progress is due to the hard work of Steve Merrick (Septodont) and our Exhibits Work Group.
IDS in Cologne:
Many of us are attending the IDS in Cologne this week. We're hoping that this largest show in the world will meet our
expectations again this year. If you are attending, have safe travels and stop by our
DTA lounge in Building 4.2 inside the DTA US Pavilion to say hello.
Greater New York Dental Meeting:
Carey Lyons (our Board chairman), Steve, Fred Freedman and I visited with the
Program Committee of the Greater New York Dental Meeting late last year.
We remain divided on the issues of the time and length of the meeting, but we hope we can reach
common ground on other issues pertaining to the meeting.
Surveys:
Remember that the DTA is now producing a report on each of the shows.
We count on your responses to our survey to do this report.
Please make certain that your company responds when these surveys are sent out.
You'll be receiving a report on Chicago very soon and,
of course, you'll soon get a survey on the Hinman meeting.
Regulatory Affairs and Standards
We are very pleased that Napoleon Monroe (Henry Schein) has come forward to take the
chairmanship of our critically important Regulatory Committee.
This committee has been one of our most active particularly in the area of standardizing international requirements.
I encourage you to check out our regular updates in the Regulatory area
on the web site.
A special thanks goes to Grant Ramaley for his dedication to this effort over many years.
Nap and Fred also ask that you read carefully the following report on device identification. This information has also been
posted on DTA's Regulatory page.
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FDA Requests Additional Comments on Unique Device Identification (UDI) until April 16, 2009
On February 12th, 2009 - FDA held a workshop in Gaithersburg, Maryland on Unique Device Identification. (UDI)
The purpose - outline the progress FDA had made on launching a new system of labeling and identifying medical devices.
(All dental products and equipment are considered medical devices.)
Dr. Jay Crowley from the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (HFZ-500) chaired the workshop.
At that meeting, FDA identified a bar coding system - most likely to be used as the basis for a new UDI program
and to be implemented in the US in three years (2012 or 2013). The UDI system can be recognized globally.
It remains unclear how many years until the system is adopted worldwide.
A majority of dental products and small equipment will require a bar code on the packaging and not the actual device.
Exceptions may include large equipment or devices inserted into a patient - like implants.
The bar code identifies manufacturer, type of device and contact information - in the event of recalls or emergency.
A second bar code may be required for a shipment's lot number and date of manufacturing.
Companies would pay a fee for their bar code number and to be registered on a national data base.
This system should eliminate additional pedigree filings and data storage.
This is just one step in a long process to implement UDI. FDA identifies dental devices as mostly low risk devices and the
final group of medical devices to require UDI. FDA announced it is accepting additional comments on UDI until April 16, 2009.
To learn more about the FDA Workshop and progress on UDI,
go to http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ocd/udi/ and www.fda.gov/cdrh/meetings/021209workshop.
To share additional comments, send email to:
Jay Crowley, Center for Devices and Radiological Health (HFZ-500)
Food and Drug Administration,
1350 Piccard Dr., Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 240.276.3400
e-mail: CDRHUDI@fda.hhs.gov
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Best wishes for the spring!
Gary
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