Implant Direct.Com is this a joke?

Out of the blue comes the CEO, Owner, and head janitor of Implant Direct.com. to post on CF. The company that is going to put all the implant companies out of business. Here is my open letter to Implant Direct. Is the Implantdirect.com website supposed to be some sort of a joke? Beyond the obvious grammar, spelling and context errors do you really think any of the dog shit you have on that website is relevant? Each implant line has the same clinical data: Brazilian Study. Oh wait there was also the study done by Dr. G. Niznick. Not published, not affiliated with any University not on staff at any educational facility. No standard deviation, population or sample size, no margin of error. An unpublished study of his own implants. Data you can really have confidence in. But this jackass spouts his bullshit about the big implant companies lacking clinical research. What a joke.
He loves to criticize all other implant company's products, pricing and marketing efforts. But this hypocrite only sells knock offs of the very same implants he openly criticizes. It is blatantly obvious that this guy is a completely fucking miserable older jerk off of a man who honestly believes someone cares about all his knowledge of thread designs, and percentage of taper of an implant, how many microthreads, etc, etc. No one really fucking cares. Its not like there is this huge population of doctors whose implants are constantly failing. Wow, your implants are 20% stronger than Nobels and Straumann. Great, thank God there is now an implant that doesn't break in two every time I place it. He is great at solving problems that do not exist. He seems to be under a paranoid delusion that all the big implant companies are out to get him. Or they are unscrupulous and conniving. He really seems to believe that the only thing big implant companies want to do is fuck the doctors, and sell products that are inferior. Moron, even the shittiest implant on the market integrates. You are obsessed with details and nuances that really no doctors care about or understand. Anyone reading this, when was the last time one your doctors asked you how many threads and of what design, and what degree is the taper. never happens. You are fighting a war with an enemy that doesn't exist.
Your website looks like a 3rd grader put it together. You display no clinical data or any published double blind controlled studies on your products. All of your products are me too, knock offs of existing implants. There is no innovation, no differentiation, no track record, nothing. Implant Direct is about one thing, trying to hurt or somehow damage the reputation of the ethical and research driven implant companies that have blossomed in the last few years.

 

You forgot to mention something that Dr. G. Niz. never discusses; the patient. No where on his website, or in any of the dog and pony shows he conducts throughout the country is any mention of the benefits a patient might derive from any of his products. This is either because there are absolutely no benefits for the patient, or because he doesn't care. Lets hear from Implant Direct about how his higher quality titanium implants benefit edentulous patients. How his knock off implants improve the quality of a patient's life. All he concerns himself with is how great he is, and how crappy the big biomedical companies like Straumann, Biomet and Nobel are. No where on his website is there any mention of the most important part of his business, the patient. Instead he overwhelms visitors with massive amounts of useless and irrelevant data that no one cares about. The only life Dr G. Niz attempts to improve are dentists lives. Instead of using a proven, predictable implant system, which is what is ethically required, he professes to use the cheapest available implant, which is Implant Direct. His dentist customers, are concerned with paying as little as possible for implants, so they can make as much as possible on the patient. Implant Direct's Screw Plant, Replant, FuckPlant, Shitplant Robert Plant implants, are not proven, who cares, its cheap. No long term studies, who cares its cheap. A patient pays on average about $1800 for the placement of an implant. The LARGEST part of that fee is the "labor" the dentist charges. So if an implant costs $275, and a doctor charges the patient $1800.00, he makes about $1500. Use the Implant Direct system, and pay $200 for an Implant Direct implant, still charge the patient $1800.00 and now the dentist makes another $75. SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS, at the peril of the patient. Dr G. Niz cares only about making money, plain and simple.
This guy, and his company have an ax to grind, and his motivation is to that end, not helping to improve the lives of countless patients through out the world.

 

Dr Giznick has the honor of being the most hated person in implant dentistry. What a fucking tool box this guy is. I recently attended one of his sales lectures, what a self absorbed horses ass. Giznick does not understand that the implant companies he derides have thousands of very loyal customers who view his tirades as the product of a very bitter man. Lets hear some more of your useless arguments. If Giznick had any morals at all, he would refrain from insulting and deriding his competition. You will never see an ethical company like Biomet or Straumann partake in the same childish and unprofessional behavior that is the foundation of Implant Direct.

 

I had a chance to see the Implant Direct owner not too long along at a lecture. Self absorbed, paranoid and angry is what I got out of his lecture. Any dentist who trusts this guy and his company really has to have their head examined. I am going to risk my reputation and possibly expose myself to legal action, because I wanted to save a little money on a no name, unproven implant? I am on oral Surgeon I rely on my general dentists to send me patients. It would be very difficult, not to mention embarrassing, for me to explain to my referring dentists that I am now going to use an implant system that is unproven, untested, and has been in business a few months, instead of a proven, clinically predicable implant system like 3I. My dentists trust me to do what is best for the patient. Using an implant system solely based on price, borders on malpractice.

 

I could not have said it better. How do I tell a referring dentist that I have changed from a Straumann, or Nobel implant to an implant direct knock off implant? I changed implant companies because I want to save $85 per patient? Is that what I should tell my general dentists? How do I justify using a no name implant, in the patient they trusted me to treat? Not going to happen. There are no bad implants on the market. They all integrate. What is meaningful to me is how predictable the implant and system is. How helpful and honest the implant rep is. My implant guy is a HUGE part of my practice. There is nothing wrong with the current major implant companies and their products.

 

This is to the doctors who love to complain about implant prices. I could see your point about price if you lowered your charge to the patient if the implant price was lower but you would never do that. You just want to pocket the additional savings. It isn't about cost to the patient it is about your vacation homes, bmers and your extravagant lifestyles.

 

The largest part of an implant placement is the labor the doctor charges. An implant maybe costs $325.00. The Dr charges the patient $1600 and up. The dentists complain about the high cost of implants. The patient should complain about the high cost of labor. When insurance starts covering the placement of implants, you will see the dentists up in arms. Its starting to happen already.

 

Nice to know that you guys are visiting my website. In 2007, by mid October, 300,000 unique visitors had also connected to www.implantdirect.com, viewing an average of 40 pages and staying on the site for an average of 15 minutes. We have 30,000 registered names on our newsletter list. On one hand you say that all implants integrate and on the other you say ..where is his research. If all implants work, then I guess the patient's are being taken care of. You say I am only interested in saving the doctor's money and not focused on the patient benefits.... but are you forgetting who buys the implants? It is the doctor not the patient. It is up to the doctor to decide if he wants to pass on the savings. The average price difference between Implant Direct's implant/abutment/transfer/cover screw/transfer, which come all packaged in one vial for convenience, and that of the major implant companies, is not $85 - it is $432. The savings to a doctor buying 200 implants a year is more than you guys earn a year. Look at my journal advertisements - I list the cost savings over the 5 major implant companies and if this were not accurate, I imagine that one or more of the companies would be complaining. As for innovations, Nobel just launched the "Implant of the Future" with the same lead-in bevel/internal hex connection I developed in 1986, the patent of which just expired October 2 of this year and was licensed to most major implant comanies. As for few doctors being interested in doing business with Implant Direct, we had 500 new customers last month, mostly disgruntled Nobel, Zimmer and 3i customers, tired of being overcharged for mediocre implant designs. My new system incorporates 6 new patented features, so while you guys may not appreciate these innovations the US Patent office recognizes them and the doctors who understand implant dentistry do also. Yes, over the years I have made my share of enemies in this industry, mostly employees and paid oppinion leaders of the leading companies, who felt their income threatened. The Internet is flattening the world and allowing me the ability to communicate my message globally, as you have demonstrated by citing my website. It allows me to keep my marketing costs to a minimum and by passing these savings on to the consumer, more dentists and patients are benefiting. There are enogh dentist that are discerning enough to see that companies like Nobel and Straumann, with 16% cost of goods, are just ripping them off. These companies make product changes to justify price increases, rather than to improve results. Dentists who have been buying low cost products of questionable quality and design, now are switching to our high quality broad product line at the same low cost. Judging from the bitterness in your comments, I think you guys should consider a career change... maybe go back to selling photocopiers.

 

No bitterness just truth. The internet is flattening the world you are correct. Sites such as CP, reveal snake oil salesmen like yourself in a very unflattering way. You keep mentioning your designs and how cheap your implants are. What you fail to mention is the end user of the your knock off, bargain basement implants. Its all about putting even more money in the doctors pocket, at the expense of the patient. Yes, all implants might integrate, if the surgical site is prepared correctly. I have seen X-rays of a doctors failed attempt to place an Implant Direct Knock off implant using a Nobel Biocare drill protocol. Compression necrosis because the doctor did not prepare the surgical sight using the correct protocol. Should an oral surgeon use your protocol? What drills should he use? Implant Direct drills? Wait, Implant direct doesn't sell drills for their implants. What happens when an improperly placed implant direct fails, but the Dr used another companies drills? Who bears the responsibility? I bet it is, "The Nobel drills caused the problem, call Nobel." I heard that you told that to a "new customer." Who promptly became a former customer.
There are unscrupulous dentists out there, similar to yourself, who put money before what is best for their patients. You will attract those dentists. Those are the same type of dentists who don't pay their bills either. Many of the "disgruntled" customers you brag about, how many were disgruntled because they were cut off from Straumann or 3I for failing to pay their bills?
Keep knocking the innovations in the marketplace, that is what you do best. You knock the new and innovative NobelActive, an implant you had absolutely NOTHING to do with developing or designing. If you designed it, and Nobel stole it from you, sue them. That is what you seem to love to do as well. Haven't you sued every major implant company? How many of those cases did you loose? A very contentious, bitter man.
You said you were not going to post on CP anymore, you can't even be honest about that, because once again, you are here promoting the knock offs you sell.
Lets hear about the Brazilian studies you fail to mention in your rants. Tell us what University you teach at and do research for. Inform us of all the trials your knock off implants have been involved with. Tell us how a low price implant benefits the patient who is forking over their life savings so they can eat again. So you save a dentist $432 an implant, that is wonderful. So an older patient who has to pay the dentist $25,000 for a full arch restoration gets to not only receive the lowest priced implant on the market, they also get to help the dentist pay for his vacation home. People like you really should not be involved with the medical business at any level.

 

Don't think that Nobel makes drills, neither does Implant Direct. Most of these companies private label drills from reputable rotary instrument manufacturers just as most do w/ W&H private labeled handpieces, etc. Proper site preparation simply comes down to following protocol. Pressure necrosis happens when the site has been underprepared in very dense bone, regardless of what drills were used.

 

I will respond to this blog as it is from a surgical specialist:

Anonymous I could not have said it better. How do I tell a referring dentist that I have changed from a Straumann, or Nobel implant to an implant direct knock off implant? I changed implant companies because I want to save $85 per patient? Is that what I should tell my general dentists? How do I justify using a no name implant, in the patient they trusted me to treat? Not going to happen. There are no bad implants on the market. They all integrate. What is meaningful to me is how predictable the implant and system is. How helpful and honest the implant rep is. My implant guy is a HUGE part of my practice. There is nothing wrong with the current major implant companies and their products.

RESPONSE: As you state above, all implants work, and based on Zimmer's success selling the products I developed in the 1990's, you can be assured that those products and the ones I make today are predictable and of the highest quality. You know this because if they were not, Nobel would be telling you and the world about the problems. First of all, the RePlant, while surgically and prosthetically compatible with Nobel's Replace implant, is not a "knock-off". It offers micro-threads and self-tapping double lead threads not available by RePlace, and it is made of titanium alloy which is 20% stronger. Implant Direct is not a "no-name" company. We have 150 employees and offices and distributors in many countries. Core-Vent and Paragon Implant Companies, well familiar to many dentists were started and owned by the same person who strarted and owns Implant Direct - and the same person that licensed 3 of the top four implant companies to make the products they do today. You would be changing companies to get better products and you would not be saving $432, not $85 if you paid retail and bought the abutments for your referring dentists. In fact, you can tell them that by changing to Implant Direct, from any of the major companies, you are able to include the cost of the abutment in your surgical fee, thereby saving them about $200 on each implant. That is all you would need to say to win their approval. If you are already buying the abutments and including it in your surgical fees, you could reduce your fees so that more patients could enjoy the benefits of implant denistry and more patients would have some money left over to pay the referring dentist for his services in restoring your implants. Every one wins. You because it helps build your practice at a time when more GPs are starting to place, it helps your patients because more of them can accept your treatment plan. It helps your referring dentist because they are saving money. Everone except Nobel and Straumann who are selling products for 6X what it cost them to make so that they can puff up the value of their stocks. Implant Direct is starting to build a sales force of experieced salespeople and we have 14 (going to 34) customer support personel assigned to various areas around the US. Our 3D Graphics and customer support sections of our web answer most technical questions. As for your salesperson being a huge help, wait until he starts selling systems to your referring dentists as is Nobel's mandate.

The bottom line is that there will be dentists who prefer the umbrella of a Nobel and there are those who have confidence that they can manage their referral practice as well or better ordering online from Implant Direct. I am not a public company so I have no presures to show huge profits or market share gains for shareholders. I am hurting Nobel, Zimmer and other companies, if not in sales to their customers, at least in giving their customers amunition to negotiate better prices. Its a big market and it is getting bigger thanks to the marketing budgets of companies like Nobel. Keep up the spending, the training courses, the grants to Universities and the honorariums to paid oppinion leaders I will keep doing what I do best - making innovative high quality products and selling them a low prices to discerning dentists.

 

That last post was from me and should not have been listed as "anonymous". As for the title, If Implant Direct is a joke, it is a joke played on the major implant companies.

 

The same bullshit rehashed over and over concerning these knock off dental implants. The patient wins? How does the patient win when he is having a knock off, of the real implant placed into is bone? How does the patient win when his surgeon is choosing the lowest priced implant on the market, an implant which is not researched, not proven and has been been on the market for three months? How does a patient win when the company that sells this lowest priced, knock off does not sell the ancillary products to support the implant? There is no training offered for the doctors who place this knock off. No drills to prepare the surgical site, just the lowest priced implant.
A patients primary concern is safety, and predictability. Neither of which is a componant of implant direct's products. A Brazilian study is all that is offered in the way of clinical reserach. The same study for every single implant that is sold by this company. The only other research that is offered was performed by the owner of the company, and there are no details offered. There has never been an Implant Direct Knock off implant study published in a peer reviewed publication. Giznick will defend this by saying his knock off implants research is Nobel's and Straumann's research. So the doctors should defer to the years of research done by other companies, even though by his own admission, Giznick's knock off implants are not exactly the same as Nobel, Straumann, etc. The changes that Giznick made, how can anyone be confident that they have no clinical significance?

In his mind Giznick believes he is hurting the large implant comapnies, the reality is it is funny and entertaining to see his rants on CP. But, because the big companies are public and transparent, it is very easy to note that the large implant companies are in fact increasing their sales every single quarter. How this can be interpreted to mean that sales are "hurting" is hard to understand.
Of course there will always be the bottom feeder companies, like Implant Direct, which focus on the scum of the market, the buyers who want only the lowest priced product, and do not concern themselves with quality. There will always be the unethical doctors who put money before their patients. These are the doctors Implant Direct Knock off targets.
How can quality and al lthe claims Giznick makes be viewed as anything other than anacdotal? There is no research on these knock off products? By the companies own admission they are not "knock off" and have significant differences, but no research to back up any quality or safety concerns.

 

ou would be changing companies to get better products and you would not be saving $432, not $85 if you paid retail and bought the abutments for your referring dentists. In fact, you can tell them that by changing to Implant Direct, from any of the major companies, you are able to include the cost of the abutment in your surgical fee, thereby saving them about $200 on each implant. That is all you would need to say to win their approval.

The above caption says it all: concern yourself only with price. So the abutment that is included is a one size fits all componant? Same abutment if it is in the lower posterior versus the upper anterior? Great for esthetics. Same abutment if the implant is slightly or radically angled.Same abutment for 1 mm soft tissue and 4 mm soft tissue? The same abutment if the implant is supra gingival or sub gingival. This is a fine example of the "quality" of the esthetics the patient would receive from Implant Direct Knock off implants. Same abutment for every single case. Beautiful.

 

While you are quoting books, Dr Niznick, you might want to check out the following book written by R. Barker Bausell, a biostatistician at the University of Maryland, and Director of Research for UM's Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. His book, "Snake Oil Science" addresses the many "medical professionals', such as yourself, who try and make useless studies seem important and relevant. Bausell's book could give one the idea that the two most dangerous words in medicine are "studies show." Check out this accurate excerpt from that book, which illustrates the tactic of using worthless studies such as Niznick's "Brazilian Studies" which appear on his website concerning the safety of his unproven knock off implants: "Researchers, even those without a direct financial stake in the outcome of a trial, often have a psychological investment in what they're testing. Their papers get published because the editors of journals in fields like homeopathy start from the premise that the whole thing isn't a preposterous hoax, as Bausell and most mainstream doctors believe."


Read the book, understand that people like Niznick, who trumpet the validity of his studies, but debunk the published, peer reviewed, multi-center studies that Nobel and other implant companies conduct, is attempting to deceive through statistics. While Niznick criticizes the massive 40 year history that Nobel has concerning its implants, he fails to address the flaws, lack of credibility and omission of ANY PEER REVIEWED PUBLISHED STUDIES cited by the "Nobel Direct Study" by Tomas Albrektsson and Lars Sennerby. Niznick, or anyone for that matter, fails to address the methods, sample sizes, or lack of multi-center double blind methodology in the Albrektsson, et al, "studies". All the "data" on the NobelDirect study, is truly only anecdotic information which has no validity or place in modern medical treatment. Niznick will go on about how strong his Titanium is, how much stronger his implant is, how much better designed his threads are. The reality is there is NO, ABSOLUTELY NO, published, valid statistical data to back up these claims. The same holds true for the Albrecktsson study which Niznick loves to cite. By his own admission, Niznick's business is booming. Booming for an implanted medical device that is surgically placed in a patient's bone, but has not one published safety study. But the large implant companies are the people who are deceiving the doctors? That is the ultimate hypocrisy.

 

Yes...its me again- Dr. Niznik. Why is everyone drinking the "Haterade" on me. I created a successful implant line, sold it, and now am using the same implant line, while cloning every implant schematic that I can get my hands on. -Thats the American way!!
Oh by the way please do me a favor- when a GP calls you to restore a Nobel, Zimmer or Straumann implant. Please dont tell them the truth- that it is not "my" implant or restorative components.- Hook a brotha up. Oh and please dont ask them to see the post-op form to see if the Sugeon actually placed a real implant, you know that they dont want to be caught saying that it is a Nobel, Zimmer or Straumann when it is actually just a piece of garbage titanium with no clinicals. When you do this it makes me and my meager sales force look very bad.
I have heard horror stories of reps. asking to see the patients chart to tell if it actually their implant. Once the restorative Dr. finds out that I have been "bamboozaling" them with my piece of garbage, it makes it very difficult on me.
In closing please, lets keep everything about the surgeons passing off my garbage as the real Mcoy between us.- "Niznik has left the building"

 

Everyone quit hating on Jerry. He is a smart man. Give him a round of applause. Quit hating on him. I worked at Strauman, and Thommen before moving on to a different pasture. I love to check in on the industry and see how every year the envy and hate grows for Jerry. I met him one time at a trade show. He was a little cocky or maybe confident. He introduced himself, we spoke about the idustry. He told me that pretty soon he will be launching implant direct, we spoke of a few good reps in the industry like Carter and Debarry, than he wished me luck. Hey, if I accomplished half as much as he has in his lifetime I would be a bit more cocky than he is. Leave him a lone, he is obviously a lot smart than most of you guys on here with foul mouths spewing BS. He just tells it like it is. The funny thing is that he doesn't have to sell it to you. He sells it to your customers. Ha!

 

I ve seen it all on CF. Saying DeBerry(he spelled it wrong to throw people off) is a good implant rep is a joke. Anyone who has worked for every single top implant company is a joke. At least there is the Korean lines still out there for him.

 

The sad thing is they don't tell the referral what they are doing. Pretty shady shit going on out there.

 

Here is what you are missing.... Doctors are changing to Implant Direct, not just for price, which saves them $300-$400 per tooth replacement, not $85, but because Implant Direct's products are better from a design, packaging, surgical protocol, prosthetic and ordering standpoint. Drs who take the time to compare what they are using to what they can get from Implant Direct very quickly realize this. As for what they tell their referring dentists, how about - its a better product at a better price so I will be able to provide you the abutment free and save your patient money at the same time. Also, lets not forget that many dentists placing implants are GPs who do not have to explain their decisions to anyone.

I know it is easier for you to believe that the company you work for charges a high price because the product justifies it, but when Implant Direct can show the profession that better products can actually cost substantially less, salespeople for Nobel, Straumann Zimmer and others are left with only being able to deny the obvious and hope the dentist buys their story.

Implant Direct provides direct comparisons for doctors to see the improvements:
http://www.implantdirect.com/pdf/struamann/Compare%20Straumann%20to%20Swissplant.pdf

http://www.implantdirect.com/us/newsletter/newsletter_0/Offers_Nobel1.asp