New Business Thrives Despite Pandemic
Neodent’s Grand Morse system helps, offering “the best of both worlds”
Corey Raymond, DMD, received the occupancy permit to open his new hybrid dental practice and implant education center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, on the same day that his county imposed a shutdown during the early height of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. "If you had asked me last May if we would be doing education by November," Raymond says, "I would have said you were crazy." Nonetheless, thanks in large part to the ever-increasing demand for dental implant education, Raymond's Academy of Modern Implants & Dentistry was holding classes by November 2020. "The need is there," Raymond says. "People want to be educated."
Raymond's own passion for educating grew in part from the digital implant workflows that are available today. After graduating from Temple University's Kornberg School of Dentistry in 2014, he went into private practice for approximately 3 years and performed implant treatments ranging from single units to full-mouth rehabilitations. He then moved on to work at an implant training center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"That experience allowed me to implement very modern, cutting-edge techniques using digital design, in-office 3D printing, and more," Raymond says. "Once I had taken it to the next level, I wanted to open my own practice."
Raymond's hybrid practice does approximately 95% implant-related work. Rather than marketing for hygiene or crown and bridge, they focus on large cases, and those become full-time patients afterward. Patients who are amenable to participating in the educational side of Raymond's practice receive all of their surgeries and surgical components at no charge. "In this manner, we are able to remove the financial decisions from the equation and really just do what is best for the patient," Raymond says.
They are able to provide this option because so many dentists from up and down the East Coast and as far west as Ohio want to learn about implant dentistry, particularly the Straumann Group and Neodent® dental implant systems. Raymond utilizes technologies such as cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and intraoral scanning, Straumann's DWOS Synergy™ workflow with coDiagnostiX® and CARES® Visual software, and the Neodent Grand Morse® implant system.
"We take the concept of prosthetically driven surgery to the extreme," Raymond says. "We plan the teeth before the implants so we can ensure that the patient will be happy with the results. Based off of the position of the teeth, we can plan the implants digitally to achieve the ideal emergence, and we can print surgical guides and temporary crowns before we even see the patient again."
Raymond utilizes the Helix GM™ implant from the Grand Morse portfolio. With its precision design that combines a full dual tapered body and a hybrid outer contour (ie, cylindrical in the coronal area and conical in the apical area), the Helix GM allows for flexibility in vertical implant placement in combination with under-osteotomy, helping to preserve important peri-implant bone structures in the crestal area.
"Grand Morse offers the best of both worlds," Raymond says. "The design of the Helix implant is aggressively threaded at some portions, which allows us to achieve high initial stability for immediate temporization, whether for full arches or single teeth. We are provided with plenty of torque. However, it is also gentle on the bone where that is needed, closer to the crest."
The previous generation of Neodent implants, Cone Morse, was known for its exceptional tapered connection; however, Raymond notes that some dentists found the fit to be difficult at times. That is no longer an issue with the Grand Morse system. "When compared with Cone Morse, Grand Morse is easier to restore, and we are seeing long-term stability of the bone," he says. "With a traditional implant, it was not uncommon to see 1 mm of bone loss in the first year, but we are not seeing that with this connection, and it is no more difficult to restore than any other implant that is available now."
As of early April 2021, the success rate of the Grand Morse implants placed in Raymond's office was 99.2%, and that number includes many implants placed by novices in Raymond's education center. "That rate is incredible," he says. "It really shows that with a well-designed implant and robust surgical protocols, success rates should be extremely high."
Raymond credits Neodent's support network with much of the success that he and others have had using the system. "I had offers to do education with other implant companies," he says, "but I picked this one because I have never seen a group of representatives that is so easy to contact, easy to talk to, and passionate about their work."
With Neodent's help, Raymond looks forward to his practice's second year being even more productive than the first. "It has been a wild ride," he says.
Key Points
• Grand Morse implants have a 16° Morse taper connection that is designed to achieve a tight fit for optimal sealing.
• Abutment design features a narrower diameter than the implant coronal area, enabling the platform switching concept.
• Precise abutment positioning that is engineered to protect against rotation and provide easy handling.
Contact information: NEODENT | NEODENT.US/QUALITY • NEODENT.CA/QUALITY
