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Nobel Biocare Corporate Profile

That was obvious to me when I became President and CEOfour years ago. The beauty of this dental implant company was thatit already possessed the widest range of the highest quality productsfor every segment of the dental industry. In the Brånemark System®,it offered specialists the most highly researched implant system onthe planet—a sophisticated set of tools and components that couldbe used to treat even the most difficult cases. The Replace® System,on the other hand, was so easy to use it allowed newcomers to beginplacing implants with confidence. Nobel Biocare’s revolutionaryTiUnite™ surface technology promised to make immediate functiona reality for most implant patients. And the company’s Procera®

CAD/CAM system set the standard for all-ceramic crowns for nat-ural teeth, as well as for abutments, making it possible for all den-tists to offer their patients breathtaking esthetic results.

Unfortunately, a thorny bramble of misperceptions hid thisbeautiful combination of assets.

All too many dentists perceived Nobel Biocare to be expensive,elitist, and overly complicated. Indeed, the company catalog con-tained something like 3,400 items––an embarrassment of riches! Itoverwhelmed practitioners who often didn’t know where to begin.One of my first acts, therefore, was to streamline our product offer-ings. Today our catalog contains 756 items.

Crown and Bridge and ImplantsI felt we also had to hack away at the impression Nobel Biocare

catered exclusively to specialists. We care about specialists, ofcourse. The input of specialists has helped to make Nobel Biocarethe world leader in our industry. But it troubled me that at thedawn of the 21st Century, 80 percent of the dental practitioners inNorth America were still not restoring a significant number ofimplant cases, and only six percent of general dentists were perform-ing any sort of implant surgery. Furthermore, we realized that asmore general dentists became involved with implants, referrals tothe specialists would increase dramatically. The general dentists sim-ply had not yet realized how easy implants had become using thesystems offered by Nobel Biocare.

In 2002, we therefore launched an initiative we calledC&B&I™––for crown and bridge and implants. This campaignpromoted our vision that dentists around the world would soon beas comfortable with implants as they were with standard crown-and-bridge procedures. Along with Replace® Select, our EasyAbutment® System was a key component to making C&B&I notjust a slogan but a reality. Another key element was the understand-ing that dentists and laboratories needed to work together as a teamfor the benefit of the patient.

Nobel Biocare was a sleeping beauty.

21dentaltownSeptember 2004

Save the Date… for Nobel Biocare’s upcoming WorldConference! Scheduled for next June 5-9,it will be held once again in Las Vegas,site of an event that this past spring pro-voked comments like the following fromfellow Townies who attended:

“One of the speakers compared theconference to walking on the moonfor dentistry. I don’t think that’shyperbole. It was amazing.”

-- Jonathan Campbell, DDS

“I was VERY impressed with the twolive surgeries that were performed.Both were immediate-load cases, andthey were super! It was by far the bestconference I have been to this year.”

-- Chad Williams, DMD

In the words of President HelianeCanepa, “Nobel will keep you in aconstant state of amazement!”

The Nobel Biocare WomenDentist’s Initiative

According to industry sources,women constitute about 35 percent ofthe total U.S. population of dentists, and more than 50 percent of currentdental-school graduates are women. Yetwomen are only beginning to place andrestore implants in significant numbers.

In order to support the large andgrowing base of women dentists now offering their patients implants, Nobel Biocare has begun a Women Dentist’s Initiative. We’re organizingwomen-oriented introductory coursesand meetings, and we’re taking actionto make gender-nonspecific implantmeetings as family-friendly as possible,including childcare and other familyactivities.

Nobel Biocare is committed to pro-viding the fullest range of restorativesolutions in dentistry, and we’re eagerto see women dentists share in the ben-efits of delivering them.

As increasing number of general dentists have embraced implant dentistry, they’vealso come to understand that esthetics are of paramount importance. Implant patientsof course are grateful for their regained function. But they care––passionately––aboutthe appearance of their new smile. They take it for granted their new teeth will look great.

World leader in innovative esthetic solutionsNobelEsthetics provides a beautiful solution for every case, enabling doctors to

meet their patients’ esthetic expectations while observing familiar crown and bridgefundamentals. To date, more than five million zirconia and alumina copings havebeen produced, providing superior metal-free restorations.

For implant patients, Esthetic Ceramic Abutments make extremely natural repli-cations of tooth anatomy and esthetics a reality. The Esthetic Ceramic Abutments arepre-fabricated to mimic natural tooth abutments and optimize the emergence pro-file. With a lower facial margin and a rising interproximal margin, EstheticAbutments are easier to prepare and more esthetic than any other prefabricatedcement-retained abutment. They’re compatible with both Replace Select andBrånemark System implants.

The ultimate solution can be found in our Personalized Ceramic Procera®

Abutments. Doctors use CAD/CAM technology to design these individualized abut-ments for each patient. The process allows for the creation of the most natural formand emergence profile imaginable. The doctor has virtually unlimited freehanddesign potential within a 15 x 15mm imaginary cylinder, depending upon the diam-eter and material chosen, and off-axis implant alignments can be compensated for.Moreover, costs are reduced, since prefabricated abutments don’t have to be stockedand painstakingly prepared.New esthetic products

Reflecting our commitment to remain the world leader in innovative estheticsolutions, Nobel Biocare has just unveiled some new additions to the line ofNobelEsthetics offerings, including: • Procera® Forte ––This is a new scanner, larger than the Procera Piccolo, that makes

it possible for the first time to scan 3- and 4-unit bridges. The bridges can then befabricated from zirconia. Procera® Forte can also be used to scan abutments inceramic, alumina, and titanium, as well as copings for crowns.

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A perfect pre-machined abutment makes restoration as easy as crown and bridge.Placing an Easy Abutment® instead of a healing abutment is the first step towardcreating simple, predictable, and accurate cemented restorations on dental implants.

Procera® Forte, the big sister tothe Procera Piccolo, is the opti-mal scanner to create copings,implant abutments, laminatesand now 3-4 unit zirconiabridges.

The Procera® BridgeZirconia completes theProcera line combiningstrength and beauty.

22 dentaltownSeptember 2004

Nobel Biocare Corporate Profile

• NobelRondo™––This new porcelain, the first ever offered byNobel Biocare, is one of the strongest alumina ceramics available,with a flexural strength of 120 MPa. Use of a unique layeringtechnique results in the highest possible esthetic results. Moreover,both the NobelRondo tray and all the bottles feature a uniqueergonomic design. Each bottle has a sculpted shape that fits intothe user’s hand and can be opened with a flip of the thumb. Allthe bottles fit into a circular tray that spins to provide easy access toevery bottle and is organized around our Color Harmony System.

Edentulous solutionsWe at Nobel Biocare have dedicated ourselves to helping doc-

tors replace damaged or missing teeth with restorations that areindistinguishable from natural teeth. But we also have not forgottenabout the basic mission with which implant dentistry was founded,namely to help edentulous patients regain their lost function andconfidence.

Our Procera Implant Bridge, milled from a single solid piece oftitanium, provides one of the most precise, biocompatible restora-tions available. We are also promoting some new concepts for eden-tulous jaws that will offer patients a series of options dependingupon their individual circumstances, which are somewhat analogousto the options airlines have been offering their customers for years.

Brånemark System® Zygoma. By using zygomatic implants,implant specialists can treat patients with severely resorbed maxillaewithout having to resort to bone grafting or sinus lifts. The implantsare anchored in solid bone and can be restored immediately with afixed prosthesis.

All-on-4. This “business class” solution uses only four implants(in either the mandible or the maxilla) to support an all-acrylicbridge with immediate function. Fast, fixed, and cost-effective, itemploys a new and predictable protocol. The tilted posteriorimplants provide optimal prosthetic support.

Overdentures. These provide a simple “economy class” solu-tion. Instead of using an all-acrylic bridge, the removable denture isstabilized on two implants with immediate function. Some patientsmay be able to reuse their existing dentures.

Somewhere between six and ten percent of the total world pop-ulation is edentulous in both jaws. I’m appalled by that statistic! Ifwe can send people to the moon, everyone on earth ought to be ableto eat bread! Age and disease should not rob any individual, youngor old, of the pleasures of eating. Today Nobel Biocare has the toolsto make edentulism a fading memory from the past. My hope iswithin the next 20 years, this will happen.

Immediate SolutionsOther visions for the future of dentistry also inspire and ener-

gize us. Sometime in the near future, we hope to see people go totheir dentists during their lunch hours to replace missing teeth,much as they go to the hairdresser today. We’re already so close tobeing able to make this a reality! After submitting 14 studies to theU.S. Food and Drug Administration, Nobel Biocare received clear-ance for immediate function of all our implants in all indications,excluding 3.0mm implants.

We possess it because of our unique TiUnite™ surface technol-ogy. This fantastic biomaterial promotes an actual integration of theimplant with the bone. The result is an initial stability that makesimmediate function possible. No competing implant system hasthis unique surface. When combined with bloodless surgical proce-dures that drastically reduce discomfort and hasten healing times,the “lunchtime” dental implant must be just around the corner.

Although the number of items in Nobel Biocare’s catalog hasbeen slimmed down in recent years, Nobel Biocare’s customers stillhave so many options that they can enjoy “one-stop shopping.” Thewealth of options reflects another of our mottos: “We provide. Youdecide.” There is no single best way to deliver implant dentistry topatients. Many different approaches are possible, and Nobel Biocareis committed to giving general dentists, specialists, and laboratorytechnicians everything they need, no matter which approach suitsthem. To help each individual decide what’s the best thing for himor her, we’ve made a huge commitment to providing continuingeducational opportunities that range from lectures and hands-onprograms to distance learning and Web-based tools to our premiereinternational gathering, the Nobel Biocare World Conference.

The thicket of complexity that once enshrouded our beautifulcompany has vanished. Whereas once we sold implants to special-ists, we now provide solutions for patients. We've left behind our"cozy corner" image, which at one time caused us to appear walledoff from the rest of the dental community. Our specialists––who afew years ago were reporting annual growth of 10 percent––are nowin some cases seeing their business increase by 50 percent a year!Laboratories using Procera also are growing, and laboratory technicianshave won recognition for being a critical part of the implant team.

Nobel Biocare is a company committed to breakthroughs. Welaunch new products twice a year, a claim no one else in the indus-try can make. Our competitors seem to constantly copy us, and wetake that to be an honor. We think it means we’re doing a lot ofthings right. The beauty of Nobel Biocare has awakened, and there’sno stopping her now.

For more information on Nobel Biocare call toll-free 800-993-8100or log on to www.nobelbiocare.com.

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The Procera® zirconia implant abutment and Procera aluminacrown offers optimal versatility, esthetics, and biocompatibility.

The NobelRondo™ Alumina Porcelain System is the culmination of10 years of experience. It is engineered to maximize the Procera®

advantage strength (120 MPa), superior esthetics and it is very kindto the opposing dentition.