Nobel Biocare is a company that manufactures
dental implants
A dental implant (also known as an endosseous implant or fixture) is a prosthesis that interfaces with the bone of the jaw or skull to support a dental prosthesis such as a crown, bridge, denture, or facial prosthesis or to act as an orthodonti ...
and CAD/CAM-based individualized prosthetics and is headquartered in
Kloten
Kloten is a municipality in the district of Bülach in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland, and belongs to the Glatt Valley (german: Glatttal).
History
Kloten is first mentioned in 1155 as ''Chlotun''.
Geography
Kloten is located in the Gl ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
near the
Zürich Airport
Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's larg ...
. Nobel Biocare in its current form was founded in 2002. It originates in a partnership formed in 1978 between Swedish medical researcher Professor
Per-Ingvar Brånemark
Per-Ingvar Brånemark (May 3, 1929 – December 20, 2014) was a Swedish physician and research professor, acknowledged as the "father of modern dental implantology". The ''Brånemark Osseointegration Center'' (BOC), named after its founder, was fo ...
and
Bofors
AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
History
Located in ...
, a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
company, to industrialize Brånemark's discovery of
osseointegration
Osseointegration (from Latin ''osseus'' " bony" and ''integrare'' "to make whole") is the direct structural and functional connection between living bone and the surface of a load-bearing artificial implant ("load-bearing" as defined by Albrekt ...
(the fusing of titanium with bone).
Field of activity
The core business of the company is the manufacture of dental implants and related products used to treat tooth loss, such as abutments, crowns and bridges. The company also sells scanners and software for designing individualized, patient-specific prosthetics. Nobel Biocare also develops software for diagnostics and implant treatment planning, and produces customized, patient-specific, guided-surgery templates for implant placement surgeries. Since the legal training requirements for clinicians who carry out implant treatment vary from country to country, Nobel Biocare runs a training and education program for dental professionals in several countries.
History
The 1970s and 1980s
In 1978, the Swedish health authorities approved the insertion of dental implants for clinical purposes, and
Brånemark entered into a partnership with Bofors to industrialize his ideas and bring them to a broader market. A new company, Bofors Nobelpharma (later Nobelpharma), was founded in 1981 in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
, Sweden to commercialize Professor Brånemark's findings. The company launched a number of new products including abutments, drilling equipment and an instrument kit. In 1982, Brånemark presented his results at the Toronto Conference on Osseointegration in Clinical Dentistry. In the same year, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
(FDA) approved the use of titanium dental implants in the United States. In 1983, Dr. Matts Andersson developed the Procera® System of high-precision, repeatable manufacturing of dental crowns. This was a fully automated method for the industrial
CAD/CAM
CAD/CAM refers to the integration of Computer-aided design (CAD) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Both of these require powerful computers. ''CAD'' software helps designers and draftsmen; ''CAM'' "reduces manpower costs" in the manufactur ...
production of dental prosthetics. Nobelpharma acquired the new technology in 1988.
After the FDA approval for titanium implants, in 1983, Nobelpharma USA Inc. was established. The company began selling the Brånemark System in the United States. Subsidiaries Nobelpharma Canada Inc. and Nobelpharma Japan Inc. were established in the same decade, along with other offshoots in France, Spain, Australia, Italy, Germany and the UK. The company made a profit for the first time in 1989. In this year, the
Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare ( sv, Socialstyrelsen) is a Swedish government agency. The agency was the result of a merger between the National Swedish Board of Health and the Swedish Royal Board of Social Affairs in 1968. ...
approved the Procera technique.
The 1990s
At the turn of the decade, osseointegration, as an observed process, was 25 years old. In 1990, Brånemark System was registered as a trademark in the US. In 1993, in need of further sources of funding to continue its expansion and growth plans, Nobelpharma was listed on the
Stockholm Stock Exchange
Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange ( sv, Stockholmsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As o ...
in 1994. In 1996, the company changed its name to Nobel Biocare. Nobel Biocare acquired the American implant manufacturer Steri-Oss Inc. in 1998. In the later part of the decade, Nobel Biocare opened a manufacturing plant in
Mahwah, New Jersey
Mahwah is the northernmost and largest municipality by geographic area () in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of the township was 25,487, a decline of 403 from the 25,890 counted in the ...
, USA.
The new century
In 2002, the company changed its organizational structure by establishing a domicile in Switzerland with a newly founded group parent company. The primary listing of the shares was changed to the SIX SwissExchange (in 2008, the listing at the OMX Exchange in Stockholm was discontinued). In 2014,
Danaher Corporation
Danaher Corporation is an American globally diversified conglomerate with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The company designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services. The company's ...
bought Nobel Biocare
and as of 2015 is no longer listed on the SIX SwissExchange.
Products
Nobel Biocare offers dental implants, restorative components,
CAD
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...
/CAM prosthetics, and biomaterials. Dental implants can replace single or multiple missing teeth. They are placed in a patient's jaw bone to provide a fixation for any prosthetic add-on, such as a crown, similar to the way the root of a tooth provides firm anchoring. There are several implant types that differ in their shape with their use depending on patients’ medical treatment requirements and the clinician's preference. Manufacturing plants for dental implants are based in
Karlskoga
Karlskoga () is a locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality, Sweden. Located within Örebro County, 45 km (28 mi) west of Örebro, and 10 km (6 mi) north of Degerfors. With a 2020 population of 27,386 distributed over 10.55 square miles (27. ...
(Sweden),
Yorba Linda
Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 census.
Yo ...
(USA) and
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
(Israel). Under the brand name NobelProcera, Nobel Biocare has a portfolio of dental prosthetic solutions and related components. Manufacturing plants for dental prosthetic solutions are based in
Mahwah (USA) and
Chiba
Chiba may refer to:
Places China
* (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei
Japan
* Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture
** Chiba Station, a train station
* Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...
(Japan). Nobel Biocare develops software for clinicians for diagnosing patients and planning treatments. In 2005, the company introduced guided surgery to the field of dental
implantology
A dental implant (also known as an endosseous implant or fixture) is a prosthesis that interfaces with the bone of the jaw or skull to support a dental prosthesis such as a crown, bridge, denture, or facial prosthesis or to act as an orthodonti ...
.
Footnotes
“Annual Report 2013”(PDF). Nobel Biocare
Nobel Biocare rejects bone loss claims(English),
The Local, December 16, 2005
All clear for Nobel Biocare(English), The Local, February 7, 2006
Danaher acquiers nobel biocare holding(English), The Local, September 15, 2014
References
{{Authority control
Medical technology companies of Switzerland
Dental companies
Swedish brands
Swiss brands
2015 mergers and acquisitions
Danaher subsidiaries
Companies based in the canton of Zürich