Dentaltown July 2019 - 16

professional courtesy
column

Earning Your Vote
Why Townie feedback is so important in the TCAs (and beyond)
This issue of Dentaltown includes several pages
of featured products as a precursor to the Townie
Choice Awards ballot release later this summer. Your
participation in this annual exercise is appreciated, and
critical to the goal of a representative accounting of
the favorite products among Townies. This is also
a natural opportunity to reflect on the evolution
of a product coming to market.
I've had the privilege of visiting many
fine dental companies over
the past 20 years. In some
cases, I'm there to learn
about the newest and most
advanced products available to
dental consumers; other times, I'm
there with a select group of dentists
providing feedback on concepts or
early prototypes. I think most of you
would be very surprised to know the
inner workings of getting a product
to market.
The time spent to develop a product still shocks me
at times. Companies must protect their ideas for years
as they navigate the process from idea to final product.
Many times, the prototypes that I've seen are still two
years from final release. While the products may seem
finished, there are many decisions that still must be
made. There may be manufacturing issues to be solved,
and of course there's a need to design packaging and
marketing materials ... and the product needs a name.
Many people are involved in this process from start
to finish and the pressure to be successful is present
when that product hits the market.
The cost of failure is high, considering
the time and people involved with
bringing a product to market. This
is where you come into the picture:
It's your experience with the product
and the comments you share online
that can make a product successful.
Some products have suffered greatly
because users did not follow the
directions properly. I mention this

because this is one area of development that's critical.
Writing instructions for use sounds like a boring job,
but the IFU is a critical document that must balance
details with clear communication so the instructions
are not ambiguous. The companies that do the best
job in this area provide more than just a package
insert written in 10 languages; they provide a card
with stepwise illustrations of the procedure and
various indications.
T he F DA mu s t b e
included in any discussion of
product development. While
a government organization seems
like a speed bump in comparison to
the rest of the process, it is often the
FDA that provides the biggest hurdles
and delays before launch. If you refer
back to my column in April or have a
look at my Twitter feed in March, you'll
see a number of finished products that
were on display at the IDS meeting. For
some, it will take an additional two years to navigate the
regulatory steps required to sell a product in the United
States. Safety and efficacy are critical for medical and
dental products, but there are still many times that the
process simply ignores logic and imposes bureaucracy
in its place.
When you're presented with the opportunity to
complete your TCA ballot, please take the time to
cast a vote. Your voice matters, and the many people
involved with the development of that product need to
know they did a great job. The great products with the
biggest market share will usually win, but there have
been many examples over the years of a great product
with enough passionate fans to earn victory. Every
product that receives votes has a user base willing to
say, "This product works for me and I think it's the best
in this category." Thank you so much for sharing your
product feedback throughout the year and for taking
the time to vote in this annual event.
You can share feedback on the digital version of this
article at dentaltown.com or send me an email: tom@
dentaltown.com. I'm on Twitter @ddsTom. ■

by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director, Dentaltown magazine

16

JULY 2019 // dentaltown.com
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Dentaltown July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown July 2019
