There will be plenty of work to go around to Connected labs. The Cerec inLab works well for us and now with the Cerec Connect so many Cerec doctors available we will be able to pick and choose who we want as accounts. I understand how much you want to defend your high dollar investment. BTW, my wife is friends with the wife of a doctor that worked for Brontes developing the technology.
CEREC OPTISPRAY SOFTWARE
The AC and it's software is far superior. I have used both the AC and the COS in demonstrations. You hover over the tooth you want to capture and then the software senses your stopped movement and it snaps the picture. There is no "button to push" to capture the picture. There were direct comparisons to Itero and COS and they both showed flaws that the AC does not get. The technology might be "old" but it works the best in the oral environment. The scanner is a horse dildo needing 2 hands to hold, standing on front of the patient, an unnatural spot for the dentist to work from. It does stitch together a bunch of video capture pictures inducing artifacts from that process. Finally all the pieces of the puzzle have together. They are articulated but they can be removed from the articulator to be put on an adjustable one if you needed (anterior guidance on an anterior bridge for instance). They are clean and have excellent detail and strength. Oh ya, the doctors mark the margins so that's on them! Models can be ordered from Sirona. That is more convenient for them so shoot that file straight to us with a complete Rx and even pictures. Cerec Connect is also built in the to the software on the new AC, not a separate software like for the older units. I talked one on one with 14 doctors that are current AU Cerec doctors and all were either ordering an AC that day or making appointments for demonstations of it.
Unwanted images can be removed and replaced immediately as they are taken. The display is larger, 19" now I believe. The unit has a battery backup so it can be unplugged from the outlet without powering down so it can just moved from one opertory to another while still on. The camera is held like a handpiece so it it more natural for the doctor to handle. The software senses when the camera is hovered over the prep and held still to capture the image automaticly, no pedal or button to click. A quadrant upper and lower and bite can be done in less than 3 minutes. With laser systems, the laser actually pentrates the surface of the prep and that data has to "filtered" out so that addes to the inconsitant image. The software removes all the artifacts beautifully. Powerding is still nessassary but the Optispray is much lighter and washes off very easily. Only one to 3 images are needed to do a single unit with the AC. The others show all the lines from stitching of the images and margins are not sharp. When you blow up an image side by side to the COS or Itero there is no comparison. Images are now stitched together without layering so all duplicate data is eliminated. The computer is using Vista 64 with much more power. The AC is now using blue LEDs so the amount of data collected is approximately twice of the AU.