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We started our trip with lectures
and demonstrations at the Hungarian Dental Show in Budapest. The
night before, we had drinks and dinner on a boat moored in the
Danube. Unfortunately, it is no longer the blue Danube; it is now
mostly the gray Danube (though it’s still beautiful).
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Here, Elizabeth Noll and I are hard
at work explaining and giving hands-on demos at the booth at the dental
show. The name of our Hungarian dealer is, incongruously, “New
York Dental.
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During the show we were lucky enough
to get local press coverage. Here the cameraman from the local
news station is shooting us during a hands-on demonstration.
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After the show and lectures, we had
a day of sightseeing in Budapest. This photo shows the
second-largest synagogue in the world, the first being Temple Emanuel
on Fifth Avenue in New York.
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Next, up to the castle with the Danube and the Chain Bridge in the background.
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Walking down the shopping street in Budapest we noticed some high tech marketing for this dentist.
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Next it was off to Romania.
Naturally, how could I go to Romania without visiting a least one of
Count Dracula’s castles? (He had three.) We visited the one
closest to Bucharest, which is in the city of Bran in
Transylvania. Yes, there really is a Transylvania. The area
we were in is very, very dense forest, so dense that when you walk into
the forest just 50 yards it feels as if it is nighttime (scary).
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Here I am at the entrance to the castle with Dr. Bogdan Acatrinei, our dealer, and Elizabeth Noll, EDS European Sales manager.
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On display in the castle was the
mirror of youth. They say that if you look three times into the mirror
you will remain young forever.
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This photo is a view of the tower from inside the castle.
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Unfortunately, the sightseeing came
to an end and back to work we went. Everyone got into the
teaching of the reciprocating SafeSiders. Here Elizabeth demonstrates
the ease of reciprocation to some Romanian dentists.
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Here Dr. Bogdan Acatrinei is explaining and demonstrating the finer points of reciprocation and SafeSiders instrumentation.
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Before we left, I went over a few of Bogdan’s excellent SafeSiders cases.
Next we went back to New York and home. I treated patients for a
week, which seemed like rest and relaxation compared to the
travel. After one week I left for Beijing, China.
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June is the month for the Sino
Dental Show, one of the largest dental shows in China. I arrived
there on my birthday. Our Chinese distributor took us to dinner
where I was birthday boy of the evening (nice crown!).
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Thank goodness I can use chopsticks!
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The next day I started off with a
lecture and demonstration at one of the Beijing Hospital dental
schools. There were a lot of dentists and students and everyone
wanted a chance to try reciprocation and SafeSiders.
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The following day I gave a lecture at the Sino Dental Show. Surprisingly to me, we had standing room only.
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After the lecture, we gave individual demos at the booth.
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Following the show, we had the next
whole day off. What good is sitting alone in your room? So
Rick (the EDS U. S. sales manager) and Laura Willson and I went
sightseeing. The first thing we needed to see when in Beijing was
the Great Wall. It is about a 45-minute car ride from Beijing to
the wall. The smog is incredible and goes right up to the
mountains where the wall is located. This is a picture of Rick
and Laura on the wall. They are standing on the first level of
the wall. The temperature was 98 degrees Fahrenheit that day,
very hot and very smoggy.
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In the next photo I am pointing to a
stone on which Chairman Mao is quoted as saying, “You are not a real
man until you climb to the top of the wall.” If that’s so, you
are looking at a “girly man,” as they used to say on Saturday Night
Live. I made it as far as the first watchtower, and at 98 degrees
that was as high as I was going.
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The next day was the last lecture
and hands-on course. We gave it at the Beijing Hospital of
Stomatology. As you can see, the lecture was full—
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—and so was the hands-on session.
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We gave the hands-on course in a
very well equipped preclinical lab. Each student had a monitor on
which he or she could watch the demo that I was performing in the front
of the lab.
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Even Rick got into teaching.
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That last night in Beijing we went
out to dinner to celebrate the trip. When in Beijing (Peking) you
cannot miss the Peking duck. Here the chef is preparing it
tableside.
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After a great meal and a long plane
ride, I was very happy indeed to be back in my beloved New York City,
USA, home of American Chinese food.
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HE
MONTHS of May and June were busy travel months for SafeSiders® and
for my wife, Erica, and me. EDS’s new European sales manager,
Elizabeth Noll, signed on two new dealers, one in Hungary and one in
Romania, and everyone wanted to hear about reciprocation and
SafeSiders. I had initially thought that the Eastern European market
would not do well. Wow, was I wrong. 
