Nobel Biocare

Nobel Biocare is a company that manufactures dental implants and CAD/CAM-based individualized prosthetics and is headquartered in Kloten, Switzerland near the Zürich Airport. 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 and Bofors, a Swedish company, to industrialize Brånemark's discovery of osseointegration (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, 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 (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 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 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 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, 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 bought Nobel Biocare and as of 2015 is no longer listed on the SIX SwissExchange.

Products

Nobel Biocare offers dental implants, restorative components, CAD/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 (Sweden), Yorba Linda (USA) and Tel Aviv (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 (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.

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

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Medical technology companies of Switzerland
Dental companies
Swedish brands
Swiss brands
2015 mergers and acquisitions
Danaher subsidiaries
Companies based in the canton of Zürich