Cologne, Germany, 22 March 2011: At Europe’s largest dental trade fair, the International Dental Show, today Straumann and 3M ESPE announced that they are collaborating to develop a streamlined digital implant workflow that connects the Lava Chairside Oral Scanner C.O.S., to the Straumann CARES digital platform for prosthetic restoration of Straumann implants.

The goal of the collaboration is to increase accuracy, simplicity and productivity of the implant restorative procedure by combining technology solutions from industry leaders.

This new development will enable dentists to use the Lava C.O.S. to transfer digital scan information of the patients’ oral geometry to dental labs with the Straumann CARES system. This option also increases the breadth of the Straumann CARES digital offering.

In this new workflow, labs will retain control over the custom digital design of both implant abutments and final crowns. As announced earlier today, the two companies have selected Dental Wings Open Software (DWOS) as the core software behind the new Lava Design 7 Software and CARES CADCAM systems. This move allows both companies to channel their resources into developing one common software platform. This not only offers immediate benefits to the dental labs, such as simplifying choices, or minimizing training and investment risk. It also allows the three companies to focus on delivering additional indications and enhanced workflow functionality of the software to support multiple growing industry needs.

3M ESPE will continue to offer clinicians attractive restorative material solutions - from monolithic all-ceramic and hand-layered porcelain to zirconia restorations to new technologies to enhance the design and production of CAD/CAM crowns. In addition, the companies are working on offering new 3M ESPE CAD/CAM restorative materials through Straumann CARES, improving the implant workflow from both companies.

3M ESPE

3M ESPE is a pioneer in dentistry, bringing trusted brands to clinicians worldwide for half a century. The company manufactures and markets more than 2000 products and services designed to help dental professionals improve their patients’ oral health care. 3M ESPE is also a pioneer and leader in digital dentistry -- processing millions of successful digitally constructed restorations via the Lava Network for the last ten years.

3M Health Care‚ one of 3M’s six major business segments‚ provides world-class innovative products and services to help health care professionals improve the practice and delivery of patient care in medical‚ oral care‚ drug delivery and health information markets.

Larry Lair, VP and General Manager of 3M ESPE, commented: “Dentists and oral surgeons have come to rely on Straumann for extensively documented, clinically validated and practice-proven implant systems. Similarly, dentists have come to rely on 3M ESPE for innovative material science and digital technology they can trust. This new collaboration allows us to further focus future innovations on these two areas. By combining the offerings of these two great companies, we look forward to delivering a solution that will transform the way implant restorative dentistry is done."

Straumann

Straumann is a global leader in implant and restorative dentistry and oral tissue regeneration. The company entered the field of digital dentistry in 2007 and expanded into computer guided surgery and intra-oral scanning in 2009. In 2010, the company accelerated its push into digital dentistry through the in-house development and launch of its completely new Straumann CARES CADCAM system.

Beat Spalinger, President & CEO of Straumann, commented: “Straumann customers appreciate the broad range of options and flexibility we offer them. By collaborating with 3M ESPE as a leading provider of innovative materials and technologies, we will be able to offer one of the best ranges of prosthetic materials and options on the market. And we will make the selection and implementation of these simpler, faster and more convenient through advanced digital solutions based on a common software platform”.