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Weekly UpdatesTHESE AIN'T YOUR FATHER'S dentures.
Like most everything else, from the way we watch TV to the way we communicate, tooth-replacement technology has come a long way.
The days of dentures soaking in a glass on the bathroom sink--and the sight of your grandmom's toothless grin--are being relegated to the land of eight-tracks and landlines.
Little Rock startup and Innovate Arkansas client PerioSeal is producing dental implants that founder Donald Callan believes will leave the competition frowning and ultimately put a smile on the face of the local economy.
Dental implants look and function like real teeth, only better. They're stronger than most alternatives such as bridges and dentures, and, better yet, represent a permanent fix. PerioSeal distinguishes itself, Callan says, through patented differences in the diameter of the implant that help eliminate micro-gap issues. In other words, standard implants often don't quite fit. Periodontal bacteria--the stuff that leads to gum disease--can build up in the implant junctions, or "micro-gaps," between the implant and gum, leading to bone loss. PerioSeal isolates and seals the microgaps. So far, it's done so with a clinical success rate of more than 98 percent.
In addition, Callan says, PerioSeal implants look better--the implants' metal neck is not visible at the gum line as it is in some implants, they are less expensive, and they are designed to be used by general dentists rather than periodontists and oral surgeons only.
Which is an important distinction.
Callan says there are about 160,000 general dentists in the United States compared with roughly 10,000 dental specialists. Of the latter, only about 10 percent place implants, Callan says.
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"The dominant companies in the market and most of the remaining competitors focus primarily on the specialist market, leaving the general-dentist market largely untapped," he says. "PerioSeal's easy-to-use system is designed for the general practitioner. Our strategy is to provide an additional revenue stream for general dentists."
Dentists are excited--dare we say, smiling?--about PerioSeal.
"We've been received exceptionally well," Callan says. "Many of the local dentists who must have implants for themselves or a family member will only use PerioSeal."
In 1995, Callan's focus began to shift from his longtime Little Rock periodontal-surgery practice to research of risks associated with micro-gap issues. Focus groups conducted in 1999 in Little Rock, Hot Springs, Atlanta and Iowa City, Iowa, confirmed what his research told him--dental implants had problems, among them the visible metal collar, bone loss and outright implant failure. Callan figured out he could make a better implant, and PerioSeal was born in 2004.
"Dental implants represent the fastest-growing market in the industry," Callan says. "The U.S. industry has experienced sustained, double-digit growth since dental-implant products were introduced in the U.S. in the 1980s."
Callan referred to a report by WinterGreen Research, "Worldwide Nanotechnology Dental Implant Market Shares Strategies & Forecasts, 2009 to 2015," that says worldwide markets for dental implants were at $3.4 billion in 2008 and are expected to reach $8.1 billion by 2015. The U.S. market was $625 million at the end of 2006. Callan expects those numbers to climb dramatically, driven by the following factors:
* Increasing number of patients needing and requesting implants;
* Increasing number of general dentists offering implants;
* Inclusion of implant procedures and techniques at dental schools;
* General dentists looking for ways to offset income from low tooth-decay rate of the general population;
* Ease of the procedure compared with crowns and bridges;
* Better aesthetics and function; and
* PerioSeal itself.
PerioSeal serves more than 430 dental accounts in 20 states and plans to add to its sales force this year and throughout 2010. Sales will target the southwest and southeastern United States. While PerioSeal implants are made by FDA-approved vendors in various locations across the country, Callan plans to grow his operation locally. His corporate office, warehouse and sales-force technical support will remain in Little Rock.
"We'll add personnel as the company grows in size," he says. "This growth will aid the Arkansas economy by creating jobs and including training for dentists and the sales force in the Little Rock office."
For more information, visit www. perioseal.com.
BY MARK CARTER
Arkansas' tech- and knowledge-based ventures
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