digital

Henry Schein and Internet Brands announce formation of Henry Schein One

Henry Schein and Internet Brands, a KKR portfolio company, have announced the completion of a joint venture to form Henry Schein One. The new company is designed to deliver integrated dental technology to help the profession improve practice management and marketing as well as patient communication. The transaction was announced on April 3, 2018.

Henry Schein One combines Henry Schein Practice Solutions’ products and services, such as Dentrix, Dentrix Ascend, Easy Dental, and TechCentral, as well as Henry Schein’s international dental practice management systems, including Software of Excellence, Logiciel Julie, InfoMed, Exan, and Labnet, with the dental businesses of Internet Brands, including web-based solutions such as Demandforce, Sesame Communications, Officite, and DentalPlans.com. The company will deliver advanced, cutting-edge technology and enhanced products to address the challenges created by the current lack of technology integration in dental practices.

“With the creation of Henry Schein One, we have advanced our dental business strategy by bringing together leaders in dental software and web-based applications to build a powerful new engine that will enable dental professionals to be more efficient and to enhance their ability to deliver high-quality care to patients,” said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Henry Schein, Inc. “We firmly believe that the products, services, and solutions we will deliver through our combined expertise are fundamental to what practitioners value and essential to driving demand for their business success.”

The combined entity, which will serve markets globally, had pro-forma 2017 sales of approximately $400 million, of which approximately $100 million is from the Internet Brands dental businesses. Henry Schein One expects to realise between $20 million and $30 million in annual synergies by the end of year three. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Bob Brisco, CEO of Internet Brands, added: “With Henry Schein One, we intend to leverage Henry Schein’s strength in practice management software with our leading digital marketing applications to help each member of the dental team work smarter and faster to improve the practice and the entire patient experience. We are very excited about what we can do together to strengthen and expand our combined product offerings to enable dental teams to be better business managers, clinicians to be more efficient, and patients more loyal to the practice.”

Henry Schein will be the majority shareholder with a more than 70 per cent ownership position, with senior management from Henry Schein and Internet Brands serving on the board of Henry Schein One. The company’s Chief Executive Officer is James A. Harding, who formerly served as the Chief Technology Officer of Henry Schein.

“Henry Schein One’s vision is to deliver technology innovation to improve every aspect of practice management,” said Harding. “We plan to connect our existing and future portfolio of practice technology and products so it all works together as one integrated system to automate more tasks and simplify the digital workflow.”

Henry Schein One will be headquartered in American Fork, Utah, which is the current home of Henry Schein Practice Solutions. For more information, visit www.henryscheinone.com

Dental Directory’s digital guru is appointed to committee of international experts

Richard Esgate, digital and laboratory specialist at Dental Directory, has been appointed to the International Digital Dental Academy (IDDA).

Esgate was selected from thousands of dental professionals to join the IDDA’s Dental Technicians Committee.

Founded by Dr Adam Nulty, Dr Chris Lefkaditis and Dr Patrik Zachrisson, the IDDA is made up of lecturers and trainers who specialise in the field of digital dentistry and aims to provide the very best expertise to its members.

Esgate, as a committee member, will now be available to share his experience with members through its training tools.

He said: “I was selected by the IDDA as one of only 30 professionals worldwide to join the committee. It’s quite an honour. Dental professionals from around the world can go to the IDDA and ask for advice on any aspect of digital dentistry, from what equipment to buy and how they can develop their offering through to general advice.

“It’s a great way to dispel the myths surrounding digital dentistry – there are quite a few – and offer peer to peer support. There are no sales pitches involved.”

Dr Adam Nulty, implant dental surgeon and one of the founders of the IDDA, said: “Before being asked to be a committee member for the IDDA, Richard has continually impressed us with his open, honest and fact-based advice he shares in person and on social media. He has an excellent knowledge of the materials and tools within digital dentistry and he will no doubt be eager to help formulate guidelines, protocols and general advice to dentists, technicians and auxiliaries alike.

“Beyond his knowledge, Richard is a genuinely nice and approachable person, an important personal strength needed to communicate well with those who are nervous about purchasing equipment that is generally quite an investment. Members of the IDDA will have Richard amongst those they can contact for advice and we are pleased to have him on board.”

Esgate brings to the IDDA more than 17 years of experience working within digital dentistry, a HND in Dental Technology and time served as a CAD CAM dental technician a Dental Directory’s facility PDS Dental Laboratory before joining the dental supplier in 2016 as a specialist advising customers.

Esgate added: “Digital dentistry is still considered cutting edge even though the technology has been around over 30 years.

“My role at Dental Directory, and now as a committee member of the IDDA is to breakdown some of hesitation dental professionals have about digital dentistry and show just how valuable it can be to their practices and their patients.”