New name for Glacier Technologies' while international interest grows

Six months after its launch, Glacier Technologies is re-branding its CAD/CAM products under the banner of Bio-Infinitum as part of a strategy to take the concept global.

According to managing director Georges Sara, contracts are currently being reviewed with an international partner to take the Australian invention overseas with the first site set-up by mid-2007.

Bio-infinitum will become the new brand name representing Zirconia BI, Titanium BI and Plastics BI. Glacier Technologies Australia will become the production facility for the Bio-Infinitum product range and the distribution arm for its scanning technology. Glacier Technologies Australia will also manage R&D and set-up an education department in support of new developments.

"The dental CAD/CAM system we developed in Australia currently represents the best in the world at this moment in time," Mr Sara said. "We can mill single copings; cantilever bridges; 3 to 6 unit bridges; bridges with a rest seat; Maryland bridges; cylinder-type implant hexed abutments; custom implant hexed abutments; and custom implant temporary crowns and bridges out of Zirconia - fast, cost-effective and very high quality.

"We're also continuing our R&D and have only just begun to realise the full potential of the system we've created," Mr Sara said. "We just experimented with our first 14-unit bridge for example and we now have 22 different implant abutment interfaces available. For dentists, it represents unprecedented versatility to achieve super strong, aesthetically optimised restorations using white or coloured Zirconia as a substructure… and there is more to come!

"In March we will be launching our fibre-reinforced plastic copings and bridges. The strength of the plastic framework will be 450 mpa and is ideal for long term temporary cosmetic work. In the third quarter, we'll be launching titanium-milled superstructures and customised titanium abutments. All these new products can be scanned and then sent to our production facility for manufacture."

Mr Sara said they took industrial milling technologies and adapted it to the needs of the dental profession with the result being an incredibly versatile system that works around the proven milling centre model. "We already have eight labs in Australia and New Zealand with our scanners installed sending us work and another 60 labs we are scanning models for," he said.

"We are the current state-of-the-art and represent a very interesting proposition for some of the larger dental markets in the world. In Australia and New Zealand, we're on track to produce 25,000 units in out first year; if we were to set-up in the US for instance, by sheer weight of numbers, that would equate to half a million."

Mr Sara said that an area where they have received considerable interest from dentists and specialists is with the system's ability to mill custom implant abutments for any situation out of Zirconia.

"Custom abutments are a simple process to produce," he said. "The technician simply waxes up the abutment on the model and then scans it. We then mill the abutment with the appropriate interface. It's that simple. We just signed a deal, for instance, to mill 9,000 implant abutments for a European company that will resell them under their own brand. They are high quality, unsurpassed aesthetically and in demand."