Practivations

In a series of articles, I’d like to recall and share some of my experiences as a dental product developer since 1987 and some basics about how our own product development process works at Practicon, Inc. Free advice is worth the cost, but maybe something herein will help someone who is equally excited about an idea for a better “mouth” trap. There are both objective and subjective facts and findings that filter dental product ideas throughout Practicon’s product development process in a series of “go” or “stop” (i.e., kill) decisions. As a product concept moves along towards a hopeful launch, those “filters” become tighter, screening out products we eventually determine that we cannot manufacture or market successfully. Depending on the product, the mass of considerations and decisions that must be undertaken between first understanding an idea and the very first retail sale will be the subject of many more articles and stories to come. Suffice it to say, there are a lot of filters al...