Straumann Dental Wings

BASEL Switzerland--Straumann, a leader in regenerative, restorative, and replacement dentistry, has announced the acquisition of a minority stake of 30% in Dental Wings for an undisclosed sum.

With headquarters in Montreal, Canada, Dental Wings is s a developer in digital dentistry. It specializes in software for design and manufacturing in addition to developing and manufacturing 3D scanners. The company is privately owned and, as a result of the transaction, Straumann is represented on its Board of Directors.

Straumann’s interest in investing in Dental Wings was signaled at the International Dental Show in Cologne in March 2011, when the two companies announced a collaborative partnership with 3M ESPE to create an open standard software platform for use across a range of dental applications. 3M ESPE and Straumann also announced their intention to adopt Dental Wings’ DWOS platform as the core operating software in their CAD/CAM solutions.

3M ESPE, Straumann collaborate

Beat Spalinger, president and CEO of Straumann, commented: “Our investment demonstrates Straumann’s commitment to advancing standardization across the industry. Dental Wings is one of best-positioned companies to spearhead this initiative, not least because their DWOS platform offers the functionality, simplicity and ease-of-use that customers want. At the same time, it provides the common platform that manufacturers need in order to open their systems and attract new business. Together with Dental Wings and 3M ESPE, we invite other interested parties to join us in shaping the future of this platform either through investment or simply by using DWOS under license.”

The need for standardization in digital dentistry is acute as the number of different systems has risen considerably, adding complexity for dentists and dental laboratories. The resulting confusion has spawned wariness to invest and limiting growth opportunities. Standardized software could solve this situation and is expected to be a main driver of the digital market.

Naoum Araj, president of Dental Wings, noted: “Dental professionals should no longer be locked into specific scanning or manufacturing systems and we believe that a common platform will revolutionize the dental industry. There is no doubt that digitalization will drive dentistry in the future, and our goal is to work with multiple partners to perfect an open platform that caters to the broadest range of needs. The announcement of our collaboration was the first step and it attracted strong interest. Since then, we have been moving ahead to include other players in the initiative, who like Straumann and 3M ESPE, share our vision and mindset.".

Digitalization: shaping the future
Digital technologies are becoming increasingly widespread in dentistry and cover a broad spectrum of applications--from general practice management to treatment planning, imaging, guided surgery, digital impression-taking to computer-aided prosthetic design and manufacture. However, the industry is fragmented and few systems offer broad connectivity.

The preferred software platform
The scope, quality, and functionality of the DWOS platform provide a solution of choice for communication, design, and collaboration within dentistry. DWOS is already commercially available as an open system and offers dental laboratories the flexibility of designing prosthetics using data from multiple systems and sources, such as in-lab model scans, chairside intraoral scans, and impression scans received directly from dental practices. The restorations can then be manufactured in-house or outsourced.

Combined resources to drive development
As digitalization spreads, software requirements will increase but development funding is channeled by competing companies to individual systems, many of which serve the same purpose. The combined resources of several partners can be expected to achieve more than stand-alone providers. DWOS is well positioned to become a leading open software platform.

For more information, go to www.straumann.com.

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