The show goes on in New York

Despite the cancellation of some 40 Broadway shows thanks to a stage hands strike, the Greater New York Dental Meeting rolled on regardless and drew a strong crowd.

The 2007 event celebrated its 83rd birthday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the banks of the Hudson River in November with some 55,000 healthcare professionals attending from across the country and the world.

New York City at Christmas time had lost none of its magic with ice rinks seemingly on every corner, Christmas trees abounding and a chill in the air that would bring snow onto the streets of Manhattan a week later.

The six-day event, which kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, combines a comprehensive congress delivering the latest developments in the art, science and business of dentistry with a show featuring some 1500 technical exhibits.

The trade display features all the household names expected at any major event but always curiously, the American shows are punctuated by unique offerings of products and services that only the 140,000-dentist strong US consumer market could sustain.

A handful of Australians, though fewer than normal it seemed, made the journey halfway around the world to experience winter in the Big Apple. Australia's greatest dental exporter, SDI, is a permanent fixture at the show as well as Queensland-based Myofunctional Research Company. New Zealand's exporter of the year, TrioDent who sell the very successful V-Ring Sectional Matrix System, were also there in force.

For anyone considering the journey in 2008, the 84th Greater New York Dental Meeting is being staged from November 28 to December 3, 2008 (the exhibition is on from Nov 30-December 3). For more info, see www.gnydm.com.