50 years, many reasons to celebrate

For the past 50 years, Instrumentarium Dental has been pioneering imaging systems designed for professionals. From the original Orthopantomograph® OP1 to the complete offering of today’s advanced imaging systems, the company’s years of experience guarantee its customers a safe investment in their future.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration, Dental Products Report sat down with Brian Broncatti, Instrumentarium’s Director of Marketing, to discuss just how far the company has come and what’s next in store.

This anniversary marks not only a birthday of sorts for the company, but a milestone in the technology itself. We have the new OP 300 on our cover - why is this a significant launch for Instrumentarium?

The OP300 is an entirely new imaging platform for not only Instrumentarium Dental, but for the Orthopantomograph product line as well. What the OP300 gives us is a truly adaptable 3-in-1 imaging platform that has the ability to serve the dental market in a unique way. The capability to take Panoramic, Cephalometric as well as Cone Beam CT images all with the same imaging systems gives our customers a significant advantage. Doctors will no longer need to purchase multiple imaging systems or send patients elsewhere for more complex procedures because the OP300 gives them the ability to keep all of their imaging and treatment planning needs in-house

Instrumentarium Dental is a part of PaloDEx Group Oy, a Finnish company focused on X-ray technology applications used in dental imaging. Instrumentarium Dental develops, manufactures and markets high-tech systems and solutions for dental and maxillofacial imaging. It works in close co-operation with dental professionals, universities and other research centers in our quest to develop solutions that will meet and exceed the expectations of our customers.

As the establisher of panoramic X-ray imaging Instrumentarium is committed to providing high clinical performance while still maintaining simplicity, ease of use and workflow efficiency. The Instrumentarium Dental product portfolio consists of a full range of premium quality imaging solutions for both intraoral and extraoral imaging.

How have previous innovations led to the development of this distinctive product?
What we were hearing from our customers is that they wanted assurance that the product they purchased today would have the ability to meet their imaging needs not only in the present but in the future as well. Doctors might start out needing only a panoramic imaging system, but might chose to expand their practice in the future to encompass orthodontic treatment and or implant planning. This expandability and upgradeability was nothing new to us, but we took it one step further with the OP300 giving our customers the ability to add cone beam imaging as well as future technologies and capabilities into their system. The OP300 is truly going to be with you for the long haul.

What are some of the distinguishing features of the Orthopantomograph and Instrumentarium Dental that you think have been carried through over the 50-year history?
The biggest here is innovation. Instrumentarium Dental has used the Orthopantomograph imaging line to consistently provide our customers with cutting edge technology and innovative features. Not only has the Orthopantomograph pioneered panoramic imaging, but it has also been at the forefront in developing Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), Automatic Facial Contour (AFC) and helping transition the industry from analog to digital. Now with the OP300, a true 3-in-1 imaging platform, we are going one step further offering our customers one unit that meets all of their imaging needs.

On the flip side, what are some of the ways the company has changed and improved over the years?
The ability to adapt to an ever changing marketplace is the biggest change I have seen with Instrumentarium Dental. That philosophy has also been incorporated into our product lines as well. With all of the technological and software growth we have seen, it is vital that we have been able to adapt to the ever changing needs of our customers. We as an organization have transitioned from calling our products X-ray systems to imaging systems. This is because the capabilities of the imaging systems we produce today have advanced far beyond just being simple X-ray units. They are in integral part of our customers’ businesses and patient treatment processes.

These types of celebrations are a great time to reflect on accomplishments. What are some of the milestones Instrumentarium Dental is most proud of?
By far the greatest milestone is that the Orthopantomograph name has been around for 50 years! That is no small feat, and is a testament to the dedication of the people, investment in technologies and relationship we have built over the years. Milestones are more than just advancements in technology or improvements to new or existing products. It is taking all of these advancements and improvements and incorporating them with the people that sell and support the products to give the industry and practitioners something that helps them treat their patients at the highest level. It is difficult for me to single out just one milestone, because they are all part of who Instrumentarium Dental has become.

What type of innovation can we expect in the years to come?
This is a rather difficult question to answer since there is so much new technology that is just hitting the market. In my opinion one of the biggest innovations coming is the ability to create treatment plans that are better for patients. We are consistently finding better and more efficient ways of treating patients. The 3D marketplace is just in its infancy and this will continue to expand in ways where we can visibly show patients the entire treatment process start to finish before it has even begun. We are a technology driven society today and having the ability to use that technology to help create more efficient treatment plans has no end in sight.