Friction Fit Abutment??

I'm sick of the little Zimmer reps running around with their little glass models showing our (implant direct) implant and their implant side by side...then putting in a zimmer abutment and turning it upside down. See doc! The abutment doesn't fall out, even without a screw!! It's called Friction Fit! We taper the hex on the abutment just slightly to make a cold weld! After you get done showing that, don't forget to mention that Dr Niznick patented that in 1994, then 10 years later when he created Implant Direct he didn't use Friction fit abutments....and you want to know why? Because it's not needed anymore! We have precision fit, not friction fit. They are selling a 20 year old technology like it still means something. Please stop. If we wanted to make a friction fit abutment we would.

 

ok that's an Zimmer rep desperate to make a sale they do the same to BH and MIS and any internal hex company. Most doctors hate the friction fit after they have to remove an abutment and will use a polishing stone to make a precision fit abutment. No secret in the industry. That's why Zimmer is the only company that uses it. Stock abutments are on the way out anyway. Custom, screw retained and screwmentables are the most common these days., none of them have friction fit. Zimmer has nothing.

 

sounds like a desperate ID rep who just lost a doctor. Gonna happen more and more

 

It's the same ID rep replying to his own thread. He's doing the same thing on the Zimmer forum. Sounds like he just lost some business to Zimmer.

 

nope, nothing in particular. Just trying to school you on some history. Nobody cares about friction fit abutments, and the ones that do get taken for a ride. But you have to differentiate yourself in some way right??? otherwise you just have a v-threaded implant from like 20 years ago that hasn't changed and got it's internal hex from Niznick, and has the same surface treatment as Implant Direct. You used to be able to slap the name "zimmer" on it and people thought it was great. Now, it's just another overpriced implant scrambling to drop it's price. Your flashy trade show booths and podium power doesn't fool anyone...at least the smart ones.

 

Dr. Niznick sold Zimmer Dental’s predecessor, Sulzer Dental, a number of his patents as part of the sale of

Paragon Implant Company’s implant business in 2001. The Arbitrator’s ruling makes it clear that Zimmer

Dental does not have the right to claim it was the “originator, inventor or developer” of these products. In spite

of repeated requests by Dr. Niznick that Zimmer Dental abide by the Arbitrator’s ruling in this regard, Zimmer

Dental continues to provide a link on its website to a page entitled “Company> About Us” that claims Zimmer

Dental "has earned a reputation as an innovator of trend-setting products, technology, and techniques in

implant dentistry." As shown on a reproduction of that page, with the addition of the actual patent numbers, of

which 8 of the 9 patented inventions were issued to Gerald Niznick by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Zimmer Dental also distributes a brochure (Internal Hex with Friction Fit Abutment) promoting the features and

benefits of its Internal hex connection (US Patent # 4,960,381) and its friction-fit abutments (US Patent

#5,334,024), both inventions of Dr. Gerald Niznick. In this brochure, dedicated exclusively to these two

Niznick patented inventions (pictured below is the Screw-Vent and friction fit abutment from this Zimmer

pamphlet), Zimmer Dental refers to itself as “a market leader in the development of world-class implantology

products.”

To paraphrase Zimmer Dental’s marketing claims, it is Implant Direct that deserves the “reputation as

an innovator of trend-setting products, technology and techniques in implant dentistry” because Dr.

Niznick, the inventor of Zimmer Dental’s most popular implants and abutments shown in these two

marketing pieces, is the President and sole shareholder of Implant Direct. To the extent that a history

of innovation related to Zimmer Dental’s most popular implants and abutments “ensures customers

can be confident that our products will perform and deliver under the most demanding clinical

circumstances” as claimed by Zimmer on its website, then that statement would more correctly apply

to Implant Direct’s new products as they share a common history of inventorship by Dr. Niznick.