Bicon
I want to relate a similar tale of two dental companies that are in no way related but seem to have traveled a similar path. We are all obviously big fans of Sirona and the CEREC technology and most are aware of the arduous road that has been traveled by most, especially when dealing with our peers and their thoughts on the technology.
We have all heard it: The margins are no good, they are not esthetic, I don't want to be a lab tech, it can't be profitable. I've heard it all in my nine years. The company has been hearing that for 27.5 years, but continues to forge forward and change the landscape that we know today with an incredible and innovative product. You need to be willing to think outside the box to accept it, but once you believe, you can never go back to what we were initially taught.
I was a part of an amazing weekend these last few days. I went to Boston with four other cerecdoctors.com faculty and about 15 mentors to visit the implant facility and operation of Bicon. I will say that 10 years ago, I was trained by Bicon and started my implant path using their implant system.
Bicon was started by Dr. Vincent Morgan in 1985. Dr. Morgan is a very forward-thinking man who does not care what the masses think. He has created an innovative implant system that works, but goes against the conventional thinking that has been taught in implant dentistry.
This trip was just incredible. Their facility is a functioning dental practice, AV center where they can record everything that they do, a teaching facility where they have a state of the art building to share their info with people looking to learn to place implants, and their company headquarters. It is a family- run business and those who work there feel like family, too.
We were welcomed with open arms, but I have to say that many on this trip have a ton of implant placement experience and were a bit leery before hearing what Vince and the other speakers had to say. We were shown many examples of beautiful, everyday, simple cases, and then just things that I would just never imagine being able to be done. Because their clinic is part of the facility and they basically document every case, they have so much data it is just mind-blowing.
Not only were we able to learn how to properly use their system to place and restore implants, but we watched a live surgery and also live restorations with their system. I could go on for a long time about all the things that are not conventional, but basically here are the main differences I got:
- They have a sloping shoulder on their implant. We saw case after case where bone grows up that shoulder. I placed them for many years, and I can say I saw the same thing.
- They use a shorter implant but showed lots of info as to why you can do basically any type of restoration with the size of implants they use because of the design and amount to surface area their implant accounts for.
- They also have no screws. They use a Morse Taper in their internal well that allows for a cold weld and bacteriostatic connection.
- They restore implants using something called an integrated abutment crown (IAC) where there is no cement interface, so they don't get the cement sepsis that occurs from many cemented crowns over implants.
- They also showed how the design of their implant can allow the doctor to cultivate beautiful papilla where there was none. They are placed subcrestal and for those who place implants like I do now, we place at the bone level and just expect to lose a bit of bone at the top of the implant. This system seems to buck that trend. I think with the creation of things like Lava Ultimate and their stock stealth abutment, we can do amazing restorations in our practice that will allow us to cement outside the mouth and get the healthiest tissue response possible.
- They are also doing large cases with an amazing new material called Trinium. It is a fiber-reinforced framework that is milled and not fired or sintered. It is made of the same technology that they make the bodies of new airplanes with. It is very strong and so light – I could not believe the weight of some of the full-mouth rehab cases they were placing. They were light as a feather.
This system is something that you need to see to believe and I would highly recommend coming out to their facility to learn about this product. After two long days of info, they fed us with world-class food from their on-staff chef. We had amazing food and drink and just talked about the amazing ideas we had from all the info we gathered.
I can't speak highly enough about the quality of the course that was given and the people who gave it. They emailed me the next day telling me how great our group was and that they have never had such an energetic group of people who were so open-minded with as much experience as many of the people in the room had.
A huge thank Vince Morgan and everyone at Bicon for making us feel so welcome, opening our eyes and allowing us to think outside the box – as we have learned to do as CEREC users!
I've wanted to check into Bicon since Dr. Morgan spoke at the AGD San Diego last summer. It's too bad I just recently joined Mentors and didn't know about the trip with enough notice, but I hope to go out sometime and explore this option better.
I’m glad that all of you had a great time as some of you know me from Sirona. Now I’m associated with another great company being the CAD/CAM and Laboratory Manager, if there is anything that I can help your group please do not hesitate to reach out to me Bob Vasile
Bob, you are going to be a great resource for both Bicon and the doctors using their system and combining it with cad/cam restorations and such. great seeing you there and look forward to some good stuff from you guys down the road
