Proposal to Create Dental Retainer Fabrication

Proposal to Create Dental Retainer Fabrication

Schien Enterprises

East 5th Ave

New York, New York 90210

Subject: Researching and Designing Fabrication Machine for Retainers

To Director of Research

There is currently a market for a machine that will create a retainer for patients that are coming off an orthodontic procedure. Since teeth have a tendency to move after such a procedure, a retainer is needed in order to maintain the patient’s teeth structure. This machine that will create the retainer will incorporate new computer imaging technology in order to create a fabrication machine that will be an essential part of any orthodontic office.

The Retainer Fabrication Machine (RFM) is feasible simply because all the technology needed to make the RFM already exists. The only missing part is the software and need to integrate each of the essential technologies. Funding to develop this machine will be in the order of 200,000 thousand dollars and follow an expected prototyping at the end of two years with the ability for mass production 2 months thereafter.

If you are interested in more details, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Outline

1.  Letter of Transmittal to Director of Company Research

2.  Abstract

3.  Background

a.  Introduction of Retainer Fabrication Machine

b.  Problems with Current Retainer Production

4.  Solution

a.  Improvements to be made

b.  Feasibility

5.  Expected Market Outcome

a.  Expected cost or research

b.  Expected revenue of selling product

c.  Expected Market

6.  Conclusion

Abstract

The Retainer Fabrication Machine (RFM) will significantly reduce the turnaround time of current retainer manufacturing in the orthodontic office while at the same time provide a large revenue for Schein Enterprises. Using the CEREC 3D CAD/CAM system and automated fabrication, speed and precision from the automation will make fabricating the retainer quicker and more comfortable. Time and money will be saved by the orthodontic office which in turn will benefit both our company and the patients in saved money and time. Dentists will want to purchase this fabrication machine because it saves them time and money. Patients will want their retainers made in the RFM because they are a better fit, and less expensive. Thus the patients will only go to dental offices that have the RFM, and all the dental offices will have purchase this machine in order keep heir patients. As a result, this machine has the potential to land itself in every orthodontic office.

Background

The yellow pages list over 20 thousand orthodontic offices in the United States alone, with hundreds of thousands more outside the United States. In addition, there are currently 4.5 million patients undergoing Orthodontic procedures. Each patient will require an orthodontic retainer to make sure their time and money does not shift away from them. The market is wide open for a new machine that will create these retainers quickly and precisely which will save the dentist time and money. This is where the RFM comes into the play

Problems with the current system

The current system is inefficient, time consuming and costly. The current fabrication of retainers is all done by hand. This is extremely time consuming and rather strenuous on the hands. The dentists or the assistant need to take a mold of the patient’s mouth, make a Plaster of Paris mold of the teeth structure, heat and build the acrylic mold around the Plaster of Paris, install the wires and shape the acrylic, and then cut and refine the retainer for outcroppings and rough points. Before, it can even touch the patient’s mouth. The second method is the dentist still taking the mold of the patient, but sending the mold out to the lab, wait for the lab to make the retainer, have it shipped back, and finally fit it to the patient. The second method is less strenuous, but the dentist must spend 100 dollars to have the lab make the retainer instead of himself. Worse, the lab takes over a week to make the retainer.

The second problem is the fact that most patients coming off the standard metal orthodontic braces procedure have metal studs cemented to their teeth to hold the arch wires. This obstruction can impede or even prevent a mold from properly forming. To combat this problem, the lab has created a special type of retainer that uses only the backside of the teeth. Though the backside retainer does work, it requires the lab to fabricate the retainer, and the retainer itself becomes more fragile.

To add insult to injury, the average cost of a retainer is about 600 dollars for the patient, a very large expenditure for the patient. Thus, the RFM is the solution to all these problems.

Solution

The solution is the creation of the RFM (Retainer Fabrication Machine). It is the next step in the fabrication of the Dental Retainers. The RFM will contain the state of the art imaging software and computer controlled milling devices based on the CEREC 3D CAD CAM system. The CEREC 3D with CAD CAM software is a machine that can build an exact replica of any object that is scanned into the machine. By building onto the existing system with a larger milling device, a Heating-vacuum system and a cutting system, the RFM can be used from start to finish in creating the perfect fitting Retainer for the patient.

The CEREC 3D is as an acronym for the Chairside Exonomical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. It is currently used in restoring damaged teeth using high quality ceramic materials. The CEREC 3D uses CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/ Computer Aided Manufacturing) technology. The CEREC 3D consists of a camera, a computer and a milling machine into one instrument. The dentist uses a special scanning camera to take an accurate picture of the entire mouth, or a single tooth. The optical impressions is transferred and displayed on the computer screen where the dentist uses CAD technology to design the restoration. CAD can smooth out any fracture, fill in cavities, or remove outcroppings. The restored digital tooth is ready to be made. The CAM takes over and automatically creates the restored item and mills out a restored tooth, which the dentist and implant into the mouth.

Using the existing CEREC 3D system, we can improve on it by adding an automated fabrication component. The automated Fabrication part will consist of a replica mouth milling system. The digital imprint of the mouth will be taken with the camera and be milled onto Plaster of Paris block, or some hard material of our choosing, allowing us to be the supplier of the materials needed for the machine. The milled block will be automatically transported to the Heating-vacuum system. An acrylic plate will be heated and melted on top of the imprint block. Using a standard vacuum system, the acrylic will be vacuumed to form a perfect fit around the imprint of the patient’s mouth, thereby making sure the retainer will preserve the patient teeth structure. The acrylic will then be removed from the imprint block and cut with a standard dental rotating drill to remove any excess acrylic around the retainer. The Retainer is now ready to use.

Feasibility

Given the need to improve the efficiency in making retainers as well as the three major problems, the market is very large of the RFM. The cost of purchase to the dentist is expected to be between 50 to 75 thousand dollars. Given the fact that the average amount of new patients a year per dental office is about 4000, the dental office, charging a reduced price of 300 from 600 dollars will pay for the RFM in under less month. The Orthodontic office could even charge and higher price for RFM created retainers because of the precision, efficiency and speed is provides to the patient. Never the less, even without changing the price, the dental office automatically saves 100 dollars per patient because the lab and shipping fee for creating retainers is eliminated by the RFM.

Most importantly, because the RFM contains the Computer Aided Design software, it has the ability to remove the metal studs that are used to hold the arch wires in braces. This means that the digital mold of the patient’s mouth can be used to make universal type of retainer that and patient can wear. Instead of the more expensive and fragile Backside retainer which must be made in a lab, patients will be able to wear the standard type of retainer and once the metal studs are removed, the retainer can be given to the patient right away, with out the typical one week wait. An addition bonus is the fact that the RFM eliminates the labor intensive process and shortens the fabrication time to less than 15 minutes. Moreover, shipping costs and material costs are all reduced to maintaining and supplying the RFM, both able to be supplied by Schien Enterprises. The RFM save time, labor, and money for both the dentist as well as the patient. The patient will receive a better quality retainer. The dentist saves money and makes a larger profit. Both dentist and patient have a Win-Win situation. Along with that is the fact that Schien Enterprises steps into the next century well endowed in the Orthodontic profession.

Expected Budget

Expected expenditures- 200,000

Breakdown:

50,000- Purchase of CEREC 3D CAD/CAM system for prototype

50,000- Software Development

50,000- Precision milling and scanning equipment

25,000- Purchasing integration equipment

25,000- Prototyping

Note- Expected budget does not include licensing of CADCAM and

CEREC 3D equipment
Expected Timeline

Expected time to completion – 26 Months

Expected Schedule

Month 1- Acquiring licenses and permissions for use of Cad Cam

System

Month 2-7- Machining parts for the adaptation of CAD CAM system

to a Full Mouth model and Full mouth Scanner

Month 8-10- creation of automated retainer fabrication

Months 11-17- Creating software and bridging equipment between

Automated Retainer Fabrication and CAD CAM

Month 18-21- Integration of systems

Moth 22-24- Testing and refining of Dental Retainer Fabrication

Machine Checking milling and acrylic retainer fabrication and software

Month 24- Prototype Ready for trial use

Month 25- Trial use in Orthodontic Office

Month 26- Analysis of results

End of Month 26- Dental Retainer Fabricator ready for mass

production

Expected Market

Machine Sales

4000 Units/ year for 4 years

1000 units/ year following 4th year until 10th year.

2000 units/ year there after- average life span of machine- 10-15 years

Total Sale revenue

200 million/ year for 4 years

75 million/ year for 4th to 10th year

100 million/ year there after

Equipment sales-

Block sales- 1 million/ year increasing to 10 million/ year

Replacement parts- 2 million/ year following 2nd year

Expected % use in Orthodontic Office

60% following 6 years on the market

90% following 12 years on the market

95% following 15 years on the market

Conclusion

The Retainer Fabrication Machine is the next step in advancing the dental Orthodontic profession. The RFM with its state of the art imaging and milling ability will fabricate retainers with precision, speed, and efficiency. Both the patient and orthodontic dentist benefit from the RFM. In addition as the manufacturer of the RFM, Schien Enterprises will receive a large boost in profits. Furthermore, it would be possible to modify the RFM in the future to fit a large range of disciplines, making replacement bones or precision equipment. The ability to adapt will allow the RFM to become an important part many professions.

Bibliography

1.  Bren, Linda. “Straight Talk on Braces.” (Feb 2005) U.S. FDA. June 20, 2006

2.  Yellow Pages. http://yellowpages.superpages.com/listings.jsp?C=braces&N=&STYPE=S&CID=&scale=&lng=&lat=&L=&search=Find+It

3. http://www.cereconline.com/ June 20, 2006

4. Trangco, Dolores DDS, Queens Chronicle June 22, 2006: Pg 14.

David Lin Page 13 6/28/2006