By contrast this same dentist placed 51 RePlant implants from Implant Direct with only 2 implants requiring removal for a success rate of 3.9%.

Both the RePlant™ and Replace™ Implants were inserted using Nobel Replace™ surgical drills following an identical surgical drilling protocol, as approved by both companies.

The dentist brought his concerns about high failures to the attention of Nobel by completing Nobel's exchange forms and then when the failures continued he requested that Nobel take back his remaining inventory, in a letter to Nobel's US Corporate Counsel. Nobel refused to take back his remaining inventory. The dentist continued to use up his Nobel inventory but also started using Implant Direct's RePlant™ implants in 2008. When failures continued to mount with Nobel Replace implants, he stopped using them altogether and switched exclusively to using RePlant™ implants.

Dr. Niznick Answers A Question On The JIACD Blog:
Why Change From The Nobel Implant System?

Price: Save 70%
Strength: Titanium Alloy
Design: Self-Tapping and Micro-Threads
Surgical Compatibility With High Success Rate
Sterile Packaging Assured
All-In-1 Packaging
Platform Switching

Implant Direct believes closing the gap between the list prices of its implants, starting at $125 and those of Nobel Biocare, Straumann, 3i, Zimmer Dental, Astra and BioHorizons, starting at over $300 will help our business because the 70% price difference acts as a barrier to some dentists who mistakenly believe that higher prices somehow assures higher quality or greater success. We prefer to reduce this gap by forcing the prices of our competitors down, rather than raising our prices. Nobel Biocare and Zimmer Dental, in particular, have aggressively discounted their prices to try to retain customers from switching to Implant Direct. We suspect that Straumann will do the same when Implant Direct launches its new SwishPlant, SwishPlus and SwishActive implants later this year, expanding compatibility and lowering prices. GPs buying just the prosthetic components have very little, if any, negotiating leverage.

Implant Direct has created an on-line Discount Registry to create transparency to the selective discounting practices of many premium priced companies. For those dentists who choose to continue buying implants from our competitors, this will provide the information needed to negotiate lower prices.

Read the 2008 Blog on Cafepharma that started the concept of this
National Discount Registry

All submissions, whether by salespeople or dentists, will be posted anonymously but verification records will be kept on file by Implant Direct. It is unlikely that Nobel Biocare or ClearChoice will reveal the discount deal they have negotiated which indirectly funds the huge advertising budget of ClearChoice, in competition with dentists in the areas of their 21 offices. Military personnel may have the authority to explore this issue because US government contracts mandate that the military should receive the company's lowest discount. Implant Direct is aware of dentists that effectively negotiated 40% - 60% volume discounts from Nobel Biocare and Zimmer Dental, inclusive of price reductions, product exchanges and free ancillary products, in order to switch customers back from Implant Direct. Implant Direct does not discount from its everyday low prices, regardless of volume purchases and has lowered the price of several of its implants over the last three years. We do provide one-time introductory offers of either 3 free implants, 5 free implants with the purchase of 20 implants or a surgical instrument kit with an initial purchase of 50 (basic kit) or 100 implants (complete kit).

Negotiating Strategy: To increase your negotiating leverage, simply order Implant Direct's 3 Free Introductory Implant Offer, place the implants and then show your rep an X-ray pointing out the features you like with this system such as its All-In-1 packaging, micro-threads, self-tapping grooves, diameter and platform options, etc. When they do offer you an additional 10% discount, refer them to Implant Direct's Discount Registry and tell them that they have been overcharging you for years and you expect an additional 20% discount (assuming you are not getting more than 25% discount already). You will be surprised how far they are authorized to go and what additional free products (healing collar, drills, abutments) they are prepared to throw in if they think it will help retain your business. If the sales rep comes back with claims of superior customer service to justify higher prices, point out that Implant Direct has 60 customer support staff in the US, a website with 3D graphic educational videos on every procedure and the industry's most intuitive on-line shopping cart. After negotiating lower prices, Implant Direct hopes you will then objectively evaluate how much better Implant Direct's products are - at any price.

History of the Tri-lobe Connection:

During the 1980's and 1990's, Nobel Biocare ("Nobel"), through its paid opinion leaders, proclaimed the Branemark External Hex connection as the "gold standard" in spite of a well documented history of screw-loosening and the necessity to take X-rays to confirm full seating. Dr. Gerald Niznick developed the first internal connection in 1986 (patent # 4,960,381 issued in October 1990 and expired 2007) for Core-Vent Corporation’s Screw-Vent™ Implant. Today, almost 24 years later, the Screw-Vent implant with its lead-in bevel and internal hex, is the mainstay of the Zimmer Dental product line. Some major companies, such as Friadent, 3i, BioHorizons, Steri-Oss and Straumann took licenses on this patent while other U.S. companies were prevented from infringing by enforcement of the patent prior to its expiration in October 2007. There are many other companies in Israel, Europe and South America where the Niznick patent was never filed, who also duplicated the original internal connection.

In 1998, Steri-Oss introduced the Replace™ Implant with a tri-lobe, butt-joint connection. Nobel acquired Steri-Oss in 1999 and promoted this internal connection as: "What every dentist wants…an internal connection," acknowledging that its Branemark external hex implant was not what its customers wanted. Nobel received a patent for the Tri-lobe connection in 2004 preventing competitors from making compatible implants until Implant Direct launched the RePlant™ System in 2006. Implant Direct’s tri-lobe connection is similar to and compatible with Nobel’s, including the color coding, but varies by creating a second set of internal tri-lobes that provide double the length of engagement for the Implant Direct’s multi-functional, titanium fixture-mounts. This improved double tri-lobe design earned Dr. Niznick his 34th patent, avoided infringement and accepted Nobel’s tri-lobe abutments with as good or better precision fit.

In 2008, Nobel acquired Alpha Bio Tech, an Israeli implant company that built its business by copying the Screw-Vent Implant system. Today Alpha Bio still sells implants with the Niznick/Screw-Vent internal 44 degree bevel above a hex. Its catalog refers to this design as “the Perfect Implant-Abutment Connection.” After Nobel acquired Alpha Bio, it introduced the NobelActive™ Implant, similar to Alpha Bio’s SPI spiral thread implant, but with a 78 degree lead-in bevel above the internal hex. A comparison of the Legacy3 and NobelActive implant demonstrates why the NobelActive connection creates difficulty in determining by tactile sense alone, if abutments and transfers are fully seated.

Implant Direct has taken its innovative All-in-1 packaging philosophy to a new level with the introduction of the Straumann compatible SwissPlant Abutment Kit. The straight one-piece abutment does not engage the internal octagon of the implant and has an internal feature which allows for tightening with either a 1.25mmD Hex Tool or the SCS driver tool from Straumann.

The abutment is designed to interface with either the standard 4.8mmD internal octagon platform from Implant Direct's SwissPlant product line or the ITI Straumann 4.8mmD platform.

Each Abutment Kit contains:

Implant Direct is offering the Solid Abutment Kit for $100 compared to Straumann's at $238 and the 2-Piece Abutment Kit for $110 compared to Straumann's unit price of $290.

Please review the video to explore the features and versatility of the kit.