Step One Grip the tab at the top of the matrix band with the pin tweezers. Practice getting comfortable using the tweezers, as the top of the tweezers work by pressing to open, and the bottom of the tweezers work by pressing to grip. The tab on side of the band are for removal after use.

Perhaps you’ve heard the somewhat brusque, inelegant, no-nonsense business term “BHAG”(pronounced BEE-hag), coined by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1994 book entitled Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. The acronym, which stands for “Big Hairy Audacious Goal,” has since permeated Western business culture and challenged companies to consider “an audacious 10- to 30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future,” as further defined by Collins and Porras. The authors go on to say, “A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines.”

Carol Jent and I rounded out 2014 with two fabulous and fun lectures that won’t soon be forgotten. The first lecture was in Oklahoma City where, once again, Carol Jent presented to the dental hygienists and attending staff that accompanied the clinicians in attendance. Denise Jennings and Nick Williams, two of our outstanding territory account managers (TAMS), addressed the sales needs. I was blown away by Nick’s expertise and passion for turning clinicians on to Expertemp™. His deep knowledge and enthusiasm for the product has put him at the very top of the total company sales for ExperTemp. Thank you Nick, for your hard work in spreading the word about what a difference a fantastic product like ExperTemp can make in a dental office. You are a true professional!

Barbara Maddalena Having been with Ultradent since the opening of its Italian subsidiary in 2005, there’s not much Barbara Maddalena hasn’t had her hand in, and in her own words, it’s been “quite an adventure.” She says, “I’ve covered so many different roles from the beginning because we were so small at first! I’ve worked in ordering and shipping, accounting, regulatory and quality control, as well as staffing! All of those experiences mean a lot to me because I was able to touch so many different aspects of the company, deal with so many different issues, and help to solve so many kinds of problems— it’s given me the experience and wide perspective that helps me make more informed decisions in my role at Ultradent today.”

“I could talk for a very long time about what makes Peak Universal Bond the best bonding agent on the market,” says Dr. Fischer, founder, president and CEO of Ultradent Products, Inc. Although the statement may at first come off overly self-assured, it is in fact, quite the opposite. Peak Universal Bond comes from an arduous, more than two-decade quest of trial and error after trial and error.

“I often say that with dentists, half of our brains are in our hands. If you can’t use your hands, you can’t be a dentist because it’s just such a hands-on profession. I love being able to shape a tooth—it’s like an art to me that I enjoy immensely,” muses Dr. Dan Fischer, president and CEO of Ultradent Products. “There are many similarities between art, construction, engineering, and dentistry. Hey, we even build bridges!” he chuckles. A talented and innovative craftsman, even in the dental sense, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that in his senior year at Murray High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dr. Fischer received the prestigious Sterling Scholar Award for Industrial Arts, which included drafting and metal design.