Straumann Acquires minority stake in Dental Wings

Straumann, announced that it has acquired a minority stake of 30% in Dental Wings Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Dental Wings has established itself as a leading 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, 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.

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”.

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, right through to computer-aided prosthetic design and manufacture. However, the industry is fragmented and few systems offer broad connectivity. However, despite the growing demand for digical dentistry, the number of different systems has risen considerably, adding complexity for dentists and dental laboratories. The resulting confusion has spawned wariness to invest, limiting growth opportunities. Standardized softwar, such as that offered by Dental Wings DWOS, could solve this situation and is expected to be a main driver of the digital market.

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, for instance inlab model scans, chairside intra-oral scans, and impression scans received directly from dental practices. The restorations can then be manufactured in-house or
outsourced.

Source:

Straumann Holding AG