Dr. Gerald A. Niznick was the founder and President of Core-Vent Bio-Engineering and Paragon Dental Implant Company (1982 -2001). Barron's Magazine Article on Dental Implant Industry Feb. 15, 2005 referred to Dr. Niznick as a prosthodontist and entrepreneur who is considered by many as the godfather of American implant dentistry.

Dr. Niznick graduated from the University of Manitoba Dental School in 1966 and then earned a Masters degree in Prosthodontics at Indiana University in 1968. Throughout the 1980s and 90s he personally trained over 10,000 dentists worldwide on the placement and restoration of dental implants using lectures and live surgical demonstrations. By the end of 2000, he had 23 dental implant US patents issued to him including the internal connection patent that has become the cornerstone of modern implants.

Dr. Niznicks significant contributions to the dental implant field has been recognized by academic institutions and dental implant organizations. He has received Honorary Doctorate degrees from the University of Manitoba and from Tel Aviv University, as well as the prestigious Isaah Lew Research award from the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs issued a Commendation to Dr. Niznick for conceiving and funding the largest dental implant study worldwide at 32 VA centers that included 900 patients receiving over 2800 of Dr. Niznicks implants. Special Issues of the Journal of Periodontology and the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery were dedicated to publishing the results of this monumental prospective, multi-center clinical study, which added significantly to dental implant knowledge.

On January 7th, 2001, Dr. Niznick sold Paragon Implant Companys business assets to Sulzer Medica which was subsequently acquired by Zimmer Dental. He retained ownership of the 40,000 square foot Calabasas California factory designed and built specifically for the manufacture of dental implants in 1994. In 2003, Dr. Niznick acquired a 60% interest in Image Guided Surgery, a high-tech Israeli company formed to develop a navigation system for precise placement of dental implants. Its patented technology uses electronic bone mapping and wireless communications to guide implant placement using 3D CT scans. Dr. Niznick formed Implant Direct LLC in early 2004 to develop a new dental implant product line, and since that time has filed 9 new patents on his new designs.

On November 1, 2004, Zimmer Dental relocated their implant manufacturing operation to their Corporate Offices in Carlsbad due to the expiration of the lease agreement on the Calabasas facility. By the end of 2005, Implant Direct installed 23 new CNC Screw Machines capable of operating 24/7 lights-out manufacturing Dr. Niznicks new Spectra-System™ products based on 7 new patents he filed to create the next generation of Application Specific dental implants.

Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa from Tel Aviv University, May 2003

Canadian Dental Journal interview with Dr. Niznick in 1990. "A Canadian Who Made A Difference"