Digital Dentistry—Editor's Editorial

I do not normally write about my experiences, but in this case, I think a few may resonate with when and what I was taught. Yes, I am closer to retirement than the start of my career. I learnt dentistry in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I remember my first patient for full dentures and not wearing gloves, but especially the feeling of warm saliva on my fingers. We also were taught to use reamers for Endodontics and had to pour our own impressions for all removable and fixed prosthodontics including the wax ups and casting for both. Move on 30 odd years and the field has completely changed in ways that we would never have dreamed of back then. As I mentioned in a previous editorial, the digital age is here (Darby, I. (2025), From the Neolithic to the Digitolithic. Aust Dent J, 70: 149–149. https://doi.org/10.1111/adj.13081). It is not coming. So it is only appropriate that the Australian Dental Journal reflect what is current in digital dentistry. For some of us, it is a bit of a mystery. I caught both Prof. Bornstein and Dr. Hamilton at the weak moment and using the power of friendship managed to get these two leaders in the field to agree to co-edit this edition. I am extremely grateful to both. I am also really pleased that we have an overseas editor. They have done an outstanding job especially managing to recruit a number of senior international experts to contribute. I am sure the impact of this issue will be worldwide and not just Australia. Ivan Darby: project administration. The author has nothing to report. The author declares no conflicts of interest. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.