The British Dental Innovation Showcase

The BDIA dental showcase took place from 19th-21st October 2017, it is the largest dental show in the UK, attracting over 12,000 people who are involved in the dental industry to come and network, meet the Royal Colleges and society representatives, listen to clinical lectures, marvel at trade stands displaying the latest technology in dentistry and learn more about the vision for private and NHS dentistry. This year Foundation Dentists were funded to attend for at least one day of the showcase, which would have been a first foray into the machinations of the dental industry for many of them and a terrific chance to experience the interface between industry and healthcare professionals.

These events are important to raise awareness of issues within dentistry and encourage dentists to engage with the profession, maintain their skills and knowledge to promote good care for patients and to avoid feeling isolated as a dental care professional. Despite being open to all members of the profession, the atmosphere at the conference has been criticised for being too geared towards practice-owners and principals, thereby failing to nurture younger generations of dentists and other members of the dental team. Are we observing a culture of favouring only those who control the purse strings and failing to inspire the leaders of tomorrow? FC