ARMED TO THE TEETH

In the rapidly changing medical industry, talented entrepreneurs are transforming the dental technician profession from a craft-based profession to one based on CAD programming as dental labs search for more sources to deliver customized and innovative dental implants as quickly as possible to patients.

Of the 595,800 establishments that operate within the U.S. healthcare industry, about 20 percent are traditional dentist offices that employ only a few workers and provide preventative, cosmetic, or emergency care. Some of these offices specialize in a single field of dentistry, such as orthodontics or periodontics. Because dentistry is one of the most rapidly changing fields in the healthcare industry, all of these offices must keep up with the technological advances that are making many new procedures, methods of diagnosis and treatment possible.

As demand for dental care continues to rise due to greater retention of natural teeth by middle-aged and older persons, greater awareness of the importance of dental care, and an increased ability to pay for services, dental labs must also find more sources that are talented enough to deliver highly customized and innovative dental implants as quickly as possible to patients.

One European source that competes for this business is allshape AG (Lengnau, Switzerland), a meticulous manufacturer that specializes in high-precision complex products for all common shapes of dental implants. Talk about being armed to the teeth: founded in 2008, this shop unites expert technical knowledge in the dental field with high-precision mechanics that are “made in Switzerland.” Entrepreneurs and co-founders Bruno Aschwanden, Pieter Wackenier, and CEO Bruno-Reto Aschwanden have developed a product line (together with their dental technology partners) that is in high demand in a booming medical sector.

Dental labs commission allshape AG to manufacture dental bridges and bars and custom abutments (the implant structure only or technical crown portion on the implant). The process employs all conventional prosthetics materials, including titanium, chromium cobalt, and zirconia. The term “biocompatible solutions” refers to the technology behind the very demanding milling of hard and brittle zirconia to manufacture a product that is highly compatible with the human body.

“Precision is not enough. It must also look good,” emphasizes Bruno-Reto Aschwanden. In his shop the finest details for a perfect denture are worked in with the utmost care and devotion. This means mass market products, such as crowns or caps on the so-called tooth stump, are left for others to do. Because allshape AG is not dependent upon the implant systems of other major manufacturers, they can satisfy almost any spec requirement when completing custom patient job orders.

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