Materialise´s Simplant Set To Expand?

Materialise is sure making waves. First there was a recent lawsuit against Nobel, and just about a week ago the company announced that Dentsply acquired a forty percent interest in Materialise Dental N.V., in a cash transaction of 20 million euros. The deal also paves the way for Dentsply to possibly acquire all of Materialise over time.

Mr. Gary Kunkle, DENTSPLY’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are excited about our investment in Materialise Dental which has a strong background of innovation in the dental, automation software and rapid prototyping industries.” “Materialise Dental inherits the technology and experience of Materialise, and joining forces with DENTSPLY will allow the company to expand further in the field of 3D Digital Dentistry and Dental CAD/CAM that can be broadly applied in many dental procedures,” says Bart Swaelens, Chief Executive Officer of Materialise Dental.

Any thoughts on how this new partnership between Dentsply and Materialise will effect other players in the implant software planning, and CAD/CAM markets? Could Sirona Dental Systems (Nasdaq: SIRO), fresh off its merger with Schick Technologies, soon be feeling some pressure? What about Nobel? Heliane Canepa, CEO of Nobel, recently claimed that NobelGuide does ‘not violate patents of Materialise’ and the lawsuit filed against it by the Belgium group is ‘unjustified,’. How else could this deal between Dentsply and Materialise change the dental technology landscape?

About Materialise
Materialise Dental´s Simplant tools enable implantologists and oral surgeons to scientifically plan dental implant surgery on an interactive basis. Materialise Dental also offers a customized drill guide product under the brand name SurgiGuide which can be used by implantologists or oral surgeons during the implant procedure to ensure accurate implant placement. Materialise Dental holds numerous patents related to preparation of
medical models, including dental implant drilling guides, using CT
scans and rapid prototyping.