Dirk Jeffs President of Ultradent 22 Years at Ultradent After being here at Ultradent for 22 years, I can tell you one thing. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d ever work at a company this long. In fact, when I started here at 29 years old, I had worked for three years at my first job, and one year at my second job after college. I was exploring my options and career passions, and thought Ultradent might be a stepping stone in that path…but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up to the job I worked before coming to Ultradent. It was at an electronics company, and I made a great friend there—a colleague—by the name of Steve Gerber. Well, soon enough, Steve had left to go work for Ultradent, and since he had become someone I had grown to trust a great deal, when he called me to tell me what a dynamic, growing company it was, raving about what a great guy the founder and CEO was, I was interested. Luckily, Ultradent was looking for someone to manage their international sales, which fit my background perfectly, so I applied on the advice of Steve.

Think of a diode laser as the Swiss Army knife of dentistry. There are many procedures that can be completed with a diode laser. Owning one brings an incredible amount of utility to a clinician. Most offices purchase a diode laser primarily for troughing but end up finding more and more reasons to use it. Essentially, any soft-tissue work that needs to be done can be completed with a diode laser because it makes the work so simple! You only need to grab the laser, attach a new tip, and get to work. The utility in owning a diode laser is the number one reason dental offices should own at least one!

Editor’s Note: This blog was updated in 2022 to include additional exercises to help promote healthy hands and wrists. Find those down below the original five tried-and-true methods.