IMTEC founder launches new venture with purchase of Park Dental Research

Three years after selling his successful implant firm IMTEC to 3M, Dr. Ronald A. Bulard has re-entered the dental products and implants arenas with the purchase of Park Dental Research from that company's founder Dr. Jack Wimmer. The Oklahoma-based company officially opened its doors under Dr. Bulard's leadership on Oct. 1.

IMTEC was known for launching mini dental implants, and Park Dental is following a similar path with its first core product, the Lew™ MDI, a mini implant with an o-ball abutment and reverse buttress threading. The product is designed to the be an economical implant option, and Dr. Bulard said in a press release that additional product lines are in development to help the company achieve its goal of improving tooth replacement outcomes for dental patients. The new company's products will be marketed through hands-on training courses that will launch in early 2012.

There is no shortage of implant options in the marketplace today, but anything new and innovative that can simplify treatment and improve outcomes will always be welcomed by both dentists and patients. Implants are a growth area for the dental industry, and if Dr. Bulard's latest company can find similar success to his previous venture, it is both dentists and patients who stand to benefit.

Read the full press release text below:

Park Dental Research Launched October 1st, 2011 in Ardmore, Oklahoma

Former IMTEC founder and owner Ronald A. Bulard, DDS, recently acquired all of the shares of Park Dental Research and was appointed CEO and President. Established in 1967, Park Dental Research is one of the oldest dental implant and technology companies in the world. The revamped company will began operations in Ardmore, Okla., on Oct. 1st.

Founded and presided over since inception by Dr. Jack Wimmer, Park Dental Research Corporation is a pioneering dental implant company established to research, design, develop, manufacture and market high-quality dental specialty products. Park Dental offers a comprehensive line of dental specialty products and will commence with ten employees in the Ardmore headquarters in addition to a New York City sales office. Park Dental Research is poised to expand over the next eighteen months.

“I started IMTEC Corporation twenty years ago with one employee,” Dr. Bulard said. “The company was sold to 3M three years ago, and our company, Park Dental Research, is fully prepared to replicate IMTEC’s success.”

Over two decades, IMTEC became a global dental powerhouse, offering products in every state and virtually all foreign countries with forty-eight distributors. At one time IMTEC employed over 300 employees, most based in Ardmore, Okla. “We’ll be utilizing some of the former IMTEC employees,” Dr. Bulard said. “We expect Park Dental to grow quickly because of the demand for the type of products we’ll be offering, at great values.”

A core product for Park will be its Lew™ MDI (mini-dental implant), said Park Dental COO, Stephen J. Hadwin. “The Lew™ MDI o-ball implant offers a refinement upon the standard mini-dental implant design,” said Hadwin. “It’s a golden anodized o-ball abutment implant with reverse buttress threading that will result in a cost-effective method of implant treatment.”

Added Dr. Bulard: “I only wish that we could reveal some of the other projects in our products pipeline at Park Dental. We see so many opportunities for this company to offer effective technologies to dental professionals and as a result, improve tooth replacement outcomes for dental patients.”

The company will aggressively market its new product line through professionally organized training seminars currently planned to commence in early 2012 at locations across the country.

“We’ll be training doctors in major cities across the US in addition to offering courses at the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry in Oklahoma City,” Dr. Bulard explained. “It’s an ambitious undertaking but we’re prepared to get our high-quality, cost-effective products in doctors’ hands so they can see the difference from the competition.”

Dr. Bulard noted that he has always believed in the responsible advocacy of implantology science as an inclusive discipline in dentistry. “Implants have improved and enhanced the lives of thousands of people,” the board-certified 1985 graduate of the Oklahoma University College of Dentistry explained. “We’re excited about Park Dental Research Corporation and its potential to be a growth-oriented company.”

Dr. Jack Wimmer, a highly respected and historically important dental industry figure, will remain with Park Dental Research in an advisory role. A Holocaust survivor, Wimmer began his career by practicing dentistry in Germany but moved to the United States to open his dental laboratory that would become the epicenter of the dental implant revolution in the 1950s and 1960s. Dr. Wimmer was instrumental in the pioneering of dental implants with Drs. Gustov Dhal, Victor Sendax, Aaron Gershkoff, Norman Goldberg, Isaiah Lew, Leonard Linkow, Raphael Chercheve, Jack Lemmons, Norman Cranin, Carl Misch, Charles Babbush, Kenneth Judy, Burton Balkin, Robert James, Bob Baier, and Professors Muratori and Yanagisawa.