The opening general session of Dentsply Sirona World 2025 started with a lone violin player on the wide stage, but she was quickly joined by other musicians, vocalists, and eventually a full choir to drive home the theme of the 3-day event held September 25-27 in Las Vegas: Empowering Connection.
The event marks the 40th anniversary of the CEREC dental CAD/CAM system and brought together approximately 3,000 dentists and other dental professionals to hear about the latest innovations from Dentsply Sirona and other dental companies, and to learn from industry experts with a wide range of continuing education courses.
As the band left the stage, main stage host Mona Patel, DDS opened with a few jokes about how her life has changed due the fame she gained after hosting this event in 2024. She then shared her story as a CEREC user who first adopted the technology after attending the event celebrating the 30th anniversary of CEREC 10 years ago.
Next she introduced recently appointed Dentsply Sirona CEO Dan Scavilla who thanked the attendees and shared that under his leadership Dentsply Sirona will be dedicated to improved customer communication and support, and a faster pace of innovation driven by the needs of dental professioanls. He then touted DS Core, the cloud-based portal that connects everything from digital x-rays and cone beam systems to intraoral scanners, mills, 3D printers, and other dental technologies. The platform recently passed 50,000 users, and as the hub of the company's vision of connected dentistry, Scavilla says it designed to support clinical efficiency and consistency.
“Simply put, less chair time, fewer appointments, and less disruptions benefit all of us,” he says.
Other main stage presenters included Dentsply Sirona group vice president for connected technology solutions Max Milz who presented alongside Shivi Gupta, DMD about DS Core and connected dentistry today, and where it's headed in the future. Dr. Gupta noted that today every clinical procedure in her practice includes a digital workflow, but there are still barriers to wider adoption of digital dentistry including a need for more education, the complexity of digital workflows, and the cost of investing in the technology. Milz then noted that Dentsply Sirona is working to overcome those barriers with new features such as AI restoration design within DS Core, the launch of new CEREC Cercon 4D milling blocks for a range of restorations, and multiple versions and price points for the Primemill platform. One of those mills, the CEREC Go platform is designed to mill composite materials, and can produce a digitally designed inlay in as little as 90 seconds.
"Why not make class II composites on a mill," Milz says at a press conference later in the day. "That was the original purpose of CEREC."
Milz also notes that DS Core also now includes AI integrations with 2D radiograph analysis providers Pearl and Videa Health, as well as AI-powered 3D radiograph segmentation and panoramic curve detection. The DS Core platform also integrates with digital technologies from other companies and allows export of restoration designs in the standard .stl file format. The platform also now includes cloud-based AI margin marking, AI crown proposals, and an AI workflow assistant. Additionally, DS Core integrates with Dentrix and Epic practice management software, TRIOS intraoral scanners from 3Shape, and digital technologies from Glidewell Dental.
“It’s about implementing AI and advanced functionalities and giving users access to them immediately,” Milz shares. “This also shows that we are more open than ever before”
Dr. Gupta then shared a walkthrough of her connected digital workflows, noting that patient visualizations enhance patient communication and treatment plan acceptance. She also highlighted the pace of new innovation integration, and the benefits of a cloud-based platform where updates can be accessed quickly without the need for investing new hardware or software.
“We need to help more dentists understand not just what’s possible today, but what’s right around the corner,” she says.
The next presenter on the main stage, Dennis Fasbinder, DDS, ABGD, shared the early results of research he is conducting with the CEREC Cercon 4D zirconia blocks. He noted that the material features a dome-shaped dentin core and a more translucent enamel shell to offer more natural aesthetics with the strength of zirconia. This creates a less monochromatic look with less brightness than other zirconia materials and offers better shade matching with the VITA Shade Guide.
Finally, Michael Skramstad, DDS offered a deeper look at how AI benefits efficiency in digital dentistry. He showcased how the CBCT AI applications help with patient communication, while the AI margin marking solution finally offers a fast and accurate solution for this once time-consuming step in the digital dentistry workflow. He then demonstrated how fast the AI generated crown proposals can be produced, noting that this is due to the computing power available in the cloud and doesn't rely on local technology. He also explained that with 8 million CEREC crowns produced every year, the software is able to use an immense dataset to create anatomically viable crown proposals.
“The more that all of us use it, the more scans we do, it’s just going to advance algorithmic performance at an accelerated rate,” he explains.
He also highlighted some developmental DS Core capabilities including time-lapse composites of intraoral scans, and automated periapical radiolucency detection from CBCT images.
"Anywhere we can be more efficient makes for a better patient experience," Dr. Skramstad says at the press conference.
During the press conference Milz also addressed the focus on cybersecurity for DS Core. Noting that it is always front of mind during development and drove the company's decision to base their system on Google's data platform rather than building their own. DS Core also features two-factor authentication and user role capabilities to further protect the patient and practice data used in the system.
To close the press conference, Dentsply Sirona was joined by Smile Train, a charity dedicated to helping children around globe who were born with cleft lips and palates. Dentsply Sirona has been a longtime supporter of the charity and had previously shared a video of Nasly, a Columbian girl and her cleft treatment journey. For Dentsply Sirona World 2025, Nasly and her care team were in attendance, and shared the story of her 16-year treatment journey. The press conference concluded on an emotional note, as Dentsply Sirona presented Smile Train with a donation of $100,000 before Nasly sang "Scars to Your Beautiful" by Alessia Cara, leaving the attendees in tears.
