Henry Schein’s global oral reconstruction group focuses on implant specialities, featuring brands such as ACE Surgical Supply Company, BioHorizons, Camlog and medentis medical, which are all vertically integrated – from the manufacturing to the market, including post-sales services. Dental Asia spoke with Lingga Tanamal, vice-president, sales – Asia-Pacific, Henry Schein, to find out more insights on dental implants.
Being in the medical device industry for almost three decades, what are some of the key takeaways you have brought along with you to the Henry Schein dental implant business, and how do they help shape your vision for the company?
Lingga Tanamal: Within the last 20 years, dentistry and how it is performed have changed enormously. In the field of implantology, digital workflows have advanced the speciality with the introduction of intro-oral scanners, 3D printing and local milling. This streamlines treatment protocol improves practice efficiency and increases patient comfort while delivering a high standard clinical outcome.
Partnerships with universities are of increased importance to document clinical evidence to identify the optimum treatment options and workflow to reduce health care costs and to deliver crucial education by integrating these innovations into the curriculum for the next generation of dental practitioners and experienced practitioners through continuing education.
The advent of innovation has also elevated the focus on the patient experience. Patients are becoming more educated, which drives their interest to understand their treatment options. This has led to a more detailed conversation between dentist and patient.
Finally, the regulatory landscape is rapidly evolving with ever-changing and stringent requirements. While fulfilling the new requirements may be challenging for implant manufacturers, they are necessary to ensure the patient’s safety and efficacy. This also eliminates “fly by the night” implant manufacturers.
All of this has shaped my vision as well as the company’s drive to provide innovative, integrated dental implantology products and services to our customers to help them to deliver clinically proven dental implant solutions for the patients. We act as trusted advisors and partner with our customers to tailor solutions to their needs.
Dental implants are arguably an indispensable part of today’s clinical dentistry. Is there a reason for this, and how will you envision the next milestone in implant dentistry?
Tanamal: The awareness of the importance of good oral health is growing, perhaps as an impact of COVID-19. As patients learn about the benefits of dental implants for their well-being, they also realise the cosmetic benefits of getting implants. With advancements in treatment protocols, patients accept dental implants as a long-term solution.
We will see more remote patient monitoring appointments, an expansion of the use of digital workflows, and more artificial intelligence and augmented reality in dentistry, and above all in implantology. Insurance companies may come up with more varieties of dental coverage which right now is still rather limited in Asia-Pacific. Dental tourism is offsetting the redistribution of services and related costs while maintaining high-quality care. With an increased demand for high-quality products and stricter regulations for market entry, I am convinced that only the best dental implant brands will survive in the long term.
How would you describe the importance and the demand for dental implants in the context of an ageing population in Asia-Pacific and healthy longevity?
Tanamal: According to the World Economic Forum, Asia-Pacific is likely to face the world’s fastest-growing ageing population by 2050. Four out of the top 10 countries with a large number of older people are in Asia1. Oral health has a direct impact on total health and poor oral health and irregular preventative check-ups and treatment can impact the entire body negatively. Oral diseases, such as gum disease or tooth decay, may lead to the need for dental implants.
Asia-Pacific is also one of the fastest-growing middle-class income populations, more than the European Union or North America. This group has more purchasing power than before, is better educated than the previous generation and pays more attention to healthcare not only for themselves but also to their elderly. The long-term success of dental implants is also driving market demand too.
What innovations have BioHorizons Camlog put in place within its dental implant portfolio to meet clinicians’ and patients’ needs in this region?
Tanamal: BioHorizons and Camlog are two of the industry’s leading suppliers with a comprehensive range of premium dental implant systems, restorative components, a comprehensive line of biologics products, and digital workflow solutions.
The latest innovations within the implant portfolio are Tapered Pro from BioHorizons and the PROGRESSIVE-LINE from Camlog for initial immediate stability and versatility in different treatment protocols. BioHorizons’ Tapered Pro Implant system offers predictable results for immediate loading treatments; the new PROGRESSIVE-LINE implants are designed to achieve high primary stability even in soft bone – including a simplified surgical kit, the Flex kit.
One of the highlights of the BioHorizons implant lines is Laser-Lok, a surface treatment to attract a true, physical connective tissue attachment. Laser-Lok is a series of precision-engineered cell-sized channels laser-machined onto the surface of dental implants and abutments. In addition, the BioHorizons surgical kit can be used for several BioHorizons implant systems.
For bone defects, the MinerOss product family offers an array of complete choices of the appropriate bone substitute material which is crucial to achieving the desired clinical outcome in functional, structural, and aesthetic terms. For soft tissue management, the AlloDerm SELECT product family supports soft tissue regeneration. The Mem-Lok membrane family provides a variety of special resorption timeframes and handling characteristics for graft containment applications. The innovative high-quality regenerative materials from BioHorizons, from synthetic to xenograft to allograft, cover almost all conceivable application areas, material requirements, and surgical preferences.
What can clinics, especially in Asia-Pacific, expect from BioHorizons Camlog dental implant brands in the next five years?
Tanamal: We are committed to continuously expanding our portfolios to help dental practitioners and lab technicians to run effective practices and labs by providing the support and the solutions they need. In addition, we are recognised for our excellent customer service.
We aim to expand our footprint across Asia-Pacific by seeking additional distribution partners for new markets, offering additional brands through existing distributors, and by increasing our reach in the existing countries and regions.
Another focus for the upcoming years is the expansion of our training and education. Together with our scientific and education partner, the Oral Reconstruction Foundation, we will organise top-class symposia, hands-on courses, and webinars. The Oral Reconstruction Foundation supports basic and applied research projects, grants research funding to young scientists, and promotes training and continuing education. It offers a networking platform for international experts in a wide range of disciplines to foster the exchange of knowledge and ideas.
Equally important to our business offerings is our commitment to society. This is achieved through our global commitment to corporate citizenship. Over the past decade, we have further sharpened our commitment to corporate citizenship through the formalisation of our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy. BioHorizons Camlog, like many Henry Schein companies around the world, has begun a journey toward better measuring and progressing on ESG action and disclosure and recognises the critical importance of this work and our global alignment for maximum impact.
We strongly believe that our sustainability efforts today build on our long history of integrating our sense of purpose into the way we operate our business.
References
1 https://www.prb.org/resources/countries-with-the-oldest-populations-in-the-world/
Published in Dental Asia May/June 2022 issue.
