BIOLASE, Cefla

IRVINE, California, and CHARLOTTE, North Carolina--BIOLASE, a dental laser manufacturer and distributor, and Cefla Dental Group, an Italian dental equipment manufacturer, have announced entering a definitive three-year agreement.

The agreement will make BIOLASE a distributor of Cefla's NewTom Cone Beam 3-D imaging products in the U.S. and Canada. Under terms of the agreement, BIOLASE will be the exclusive distributor for dentists, dental schools and dental clinics, and nonexclusive for certain other medical markets.

NewTom's Cone-Beam-Computed-Tomography is a compact version of standard CT imaging that uses a cone-shaped X-ray beam to obtain a multitude of radiographs that construct digital 3-D models of maxillofacial anatomies. Some of the advantages compared to traditional CT scanners include less radiation, faster scan times, and a more comfortable patient experience.

The NewTom 3-D imaging products are typically used in highly complex dentistry cases by periodontists, endodontists, and oral surgeons where more-involved and higher-accuracy images are needed. They are increasingly being adopted by general practitioners for use in placing implants. The installed base of NewTom in North America and worldwide is approximately 300 and 900 products, respectively.

The combination of the BIOLASE installed base of more than 19,000 lasers among 16,000 customers, brand recognition and marketing expertise with the NewTom reputation for quality and performance was the driving force for the agreement, said Sergio Ghezzi, global managing director of Cefla Dental's NewTom imaging division.

"We have made a strong commitment to establish ourselves as a substantial competitor in the North American 3-D CBCT imaging market and consider BIOLASE an ideal partner to accomplish that goal," Ghezzi said. "Working closely with BIOLASE, we believe we can sustain growth in our NewTom U.S. business unit while bringing the dental community the highest quality 3-D imaging products in the world."

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Federico Pignatelli, BIOLASE chairman and CEO, noted that the NewTom products will complement the BIOLASE DaVinci Imaging dental imaging devices and provide dental customers a wider and more comprehensive choice of configurations, range of performance, and price points.

"The NewTom CBCT is widely known as the finest 3-D imaging unit in the world," Pignatelli said.

"NewTom is a great brand and a great technology with market-leading products which will nicely augment our suite of highly respected, advanced imaging products and market leading lines of diode and all-tissue lasers. We've named this integration of lasers and imaging the Total Technology Solution with the motto, 'See More-Do More.' The better the 3-D imaging capabilities of the dental professional, the earlier the diagnosis and the more indications that can be identified and treated minimally invasively with our Waterlase iPlus and iLase laser technologies, in many cases without the use of anesthesia, in a very biologically friendly fashion.

"This partnership is a nice fit for both companies including select other international markets and should also provide us with an entryway into a new and expansive source of revenue from the periodontic, endodontic, and oral surgery markets," Pignatelli concluded.

For more information, visit www.newtom.us or call (704) 731-5293 or visit www.biolase.com.

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