Implant People Hows business right now?

To the Straumann rep... What do you think of a doctor putting a locator abutment or a gold-plastic UCLA type abutment on your implants? Neither are manufactured by your company.. So does this void the warranty if the doctor restores a Straumann with one of these type abutments?

 

Obviously OK if Straumann is selling them and getting a slice...................great comment from the peanut gallery.

 

I understand the question. If they are Zest anchors, and are specifically made for Straumann, the warranty applies. We make our own gold abutment, so that would be covered as well. The amount of exhaustive internal testing with these connections has not been duplicated with the clones that are now out there, and I'm sure no company will volunteer to pay for something like that to create a sufficient burden of proof from their end. This policy is not specific to Straumann. I believe many others void their warranties if the components aren't manufacturer specific and tested this way, and it makes complete sense to do so.

 

This is getting ridiculous. A zest anchors are screw in abutments. Abutment posts from either BSB or ID are a screw in abutment. Zest, BSB and ID are second party suppliers, the only difference is that you can buy Locator abutments from either Zest or ITI whereas the BSB and ID parts can only be purchased directly from them.

If you want to stay number one you are going to have to do much better than offering an over priced outdated design. Biggest fallacy for the clones is that they all seem to be offering very good copies of implant designs that have now been shown to be inferior. I'm sure ID tries to switch people over to Legacy fixtures as fast as possible.

 

How is it ridiculous to only warranty connections that are proprietary? Why should anyone pay for something that breaks, deforms, etc., that they didn't authorize or manufacture and study in the first place? It's as logical as anything and a sound business practice. I've already had a number of situations where a screw or abutment broke and I was called in with a rescue kit to help take care of the situation and was expected to warranty the damage. In each case, the abutments and screws weren't mine, and the doctor wasn't aware that the abutment and screw weren't authentic (or so they said). What is expected then? Is it a valuable use of my time to attend to these situations? Who knows how many shysters are out there cloning everything in sight and selling them as "just as good"? Probably hundreds, not just Niznick. In order to save a little, it could end up costing much more time, frustration for the doctor and patient, and money. At this point it doesn't even matter about the warranty, they just want it to predictably work with the best tolerances and specifications possible, and we KNOW how our products work together. We can't speak for every XYZ company trying to parasitically collect money off of our cases. If you want Nizplant/Niz connections, go for it. Good luck switching everyone over from the most successful and proven system in the world. Reminder: Niznick is not the Robin Hood of dentistry, he's after as many dollars as he can get. He just wants to come in the back door and do it off the research and sweat of real medical device companies, that's all. Don't be fooled.

 

I don't know how Astra people felt about our using Atlantis abutments before they bought the company but I don't recall being made to feel like I was an idiot. Same goes for Locator abutments before they were introduced into the catalog.

Niznick is no Robin Hood but he does understand manufacturing and threw a 20M party to prove it. Not a big fan of his clones but the Legacy line of implants is hard to criticize. Yes, it would be nice to see some data to support his claims.

 

Hard to criticize? Let's start with his NO DATA platform--and end with it. We're in the business of medical devices and he wants you to look the other way while he refuses to prove anything. Unacceptable from the patient, doctor, and industry standpoint.

The Legacy line is a tapered implant with micro threads. I've yet to see any real data as to why micro threads matter. It has an HA sprayed-on coat, and most experts have seen that this is older technology with long-term issues. I bet Niznick would like to completely disregard all the respected experts who agree with this, but of course, he knows best. Many low-cost implants have some version of this surface. Nizick will tell you his are the only implants anyone should be using. I find this funny, because barely anyone uses them. If he charged a premium, (and mind you, he would if he could) no one would use them because he'd lose the GP'S, which are his only customers. If you want initial stability, you can get that with just about any system and it's not an actual issue out there. What compells clinicians is long-term data and proof, and long-term success with regard to any incidences that may arise (whether bone, infection, or connection), not just initial stability. And certainly not a mouth piece that refuses to back up the talk with investigation.

My prediction is Sybron/ID will operate on the less experienced, new GP implantologist market, and with the new backing, will gain share slowly. Then after a few years, they'll settle into the very low single digit market share segment and there they'll stay with all their similar brethren, the dozens of systems that compete for the same smaller piece of the pie.

 

For th.ode who would ace you believe high prices = high clinical success, I have two words for you "NobelPerfect" and ". If you want to read all the research by the best opinion leaders money can buy, they are posted on Nobel's website. You can't buy the Perfect because it is off the market but it was sold for $650 so it must have been great. The Direct is still for sale but with a class action pending, who would be stupid enough to buy this $500 implant?
As for studies, there is the NobelActive at $399 with a one year study but maybe that is only a$70 implant because that is what Nobel sells that design for in Israel.
As for no studies on Implant Direct implants, the Legacy is the same material, design (plus micro-threads), connection and surgical protocol as the Zimmer $376 Screw-Vent for 1/3 Rd the price. To this add that they are made in the same factory, by the same machinists and on the same type of machines as Zimmer used from 2001-2004 with many articles having documented high success. if his implants were not successful or were of poor quality, don't you think Nobel could find someone to publish such negative results?

Leave Niznick alone already - he showed that the major implant companies where selling outdated implants at inflated prices, and got paid $300m for giving dentists what they wanted- compatibility, innovation and value. Danaher is not Keystone - they are not going to screw up a successful formula as evidenced by the fact Niznick is still president.

 

Interesting. Well, at last we'll finally get to see the published sales of this line over time rather than the private, exagerrated Niznick numbers he used to make this sale to Danaher. I just don't think it will be as dramatic as the ID people think. Anybody?

 

So you thing Danaher paid $300m based on some exaggerated number Niznick told them or do you think they paid it after serious due diligence. the numbers were reported in the BofA report along with the 25% net profits.

 

Yes, Danaher greatly overpaid for ID because they were desperate to have an implant line that potentially could sell better than nothing, which is what they had. 25% net profits do not tell us what the current world market share is of ID, and no credible source has reported this statistic. Time will tell, and it won't be "number 3 in the world in 3-5 years" or whatever that previous yahoo predicted. Specialists are not inspired by this implant technology (if you can call it that) or Jerry. What Danaher is betting 300m on (and soon to be counting) is the proliferation of GP's who will buy implants. The problem is, it's not enough, and they have many other choices, most of which are better, with seasoned reps behind them. ID cannot recruit top reps to counteract this fact because no one wants to work for a circus act like Jerry and for less money. He'll get the castoffs and burnouts, or unproven rookies who don't know any better. It's not a good equation for Danaher, at least in the short term.

 

So the pitch goes to the gullible new salesperson or dentist but the fact is that if anything, the dentist will have higher success with implant Direct Implants than Straumann and NobelReplace implants because they are self-taping with progressively deeper threads providing increased initial stability and surface area. They will also get less bone loss because of microthreds. They will get less fracture because they are made of alloy.
Read the comparison studies on IDs website. look at this months newsletter from the AO Dr Jeff Geneles from Florida had 3out of 6 straumann implants fail in the Maxilla of an immediate load case and when questioned his response was "I guess I should have used a tapered implant."

 

Who had the last laugh - All the ney Sayers like you, or Niznick with another $300,000,000. The fat lady has sung whether you like the sound or not.

 

The article you refer to is in the latest issue of the AO newsletter on Page 6. There are two issues that question the conclusion that you have made - (i) the circumstance of the patient and the nature of the case may have contributed to the failure and more importantly (ii) the quote that you attribute to Dr. Ganeles - "I guess I should have used a tapered implant" - does not appear in the article. Perhaps this was a private conversation that you had with Jeff?

 

He said it to a bunch of dentists when he presented the case. The point is that high proceed implants don't guarantee seccess and low priced implants don't guarantee failure. Lack of initial stability contribute to failure on immediate load cases and tapered implants increase initial stability in soft bone.

 

Take it easy on this guy. He's either a washed up sales rep before the tapered days and never caught on, or a new hire payroll/copier rep trying to break into the business.....You know, the typical low quality reps that are hired by these low priced implant companies.

 

ID is going to conduct the first clinical trial involving human sacrifice to prove this point. Danaher has hired the son of a German dentist now practicing in Argentina to conduct the study. Guess who he plans to immortalize in the dental literature?

 

Implant sales is so yesterday. You guys may as well be used car salesmen. You think that you're on the top of the food chain in dental but in reality you're moving to the bottom of the barrel. Dental IT sales is the new game; imaging, sensors, software, etc.