2007 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation

The T.B.R. Group received the 2007 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for its Hybrid Zirconia-Titanium dental implant patented technology.

Award Description
The Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation is presented to the company that has demonstrated technological superiority within its industry. This Award recognizes the ability of the company to successfully develop and introduce new technology, formulate a well-designed product family, and make significant product performance contributions to the industry.

Research Methodology
To choose the recipient of this Award, the analyst team tracks emerging and existing technologies, as well as R&D developments. This is accomplished through interviews with major market participants and extensive secondary research. Also considered are elements such as product launches, customer acceptance, penetration rates, and time to market. Finally, competitors are compared and ranked for relative position. Frost & Sullivan then presents the Award to the company that received the number one industry rank.

Measurement Criteria
In addition to the methodology described above, specific criteria are used to determine the final competitor rankings in this industry. The Award recipient has excelled based on one or more of the following criteria:

• Technology innovation contrasted against competitors
• R&D expenditures
• New product/process introduction
• Price premium
• First to market
• Adoption rate
• Penetration rate

Award Recipient: T.B.R. Group

The 2007 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation in the Dental Implant market has been conferred upon T.B.R. Group for the company’s Zirconia Titanium patented technology. T.B.R. Group, a company active in the dental implant market, manufactures an innovative dental implant system, based on its Zirconia Titanium patented technology, to fill the need for affordable yet accurate technology in the dental implant market.

Company Profile:

The T.B.R. Group with more than 20 years of clinical success and innovation develops, manufactures and distributes the T.B.R. dental implants system, known for its Zirconia Titanium technology, its aesthetic advantages, easy to use design and security.

The T.B.R. Group is a leader in oral implantology and is a fast growing implant company with an international presence in more than 40 countries.

The key factors for success are its innovation with the Zirconia Titanium Hybrid dental implants, its scientific research and customer service. Built on solid technological grounds, T.B.R. Group fosters values of excellence and innovation and considers its customers and collaborators to be partners in the interests of safety, quality and aesthetics.

The T.B.R Dental implants systems were created in 1985 leading to the formation of the Headquarters in 1986 in Toulouse, France, Europe space and aeronautical birthplace, home to Airbus industries, the National Center for Space Studies (C.N.E.S.) and some of today's major research organizations in the biomedical and biomechanical fields. The group also developed its patents so as to meet a great success in being the French leader in Dental implants.

T.B.R. Group have increased in their distribution from 15 countries in 2000, to 20 countries in 2003, 25 countries in 2005 and finally to 40 countries in 2007.

Technology Innovation with Perio-integration giving T.B.R. Group the competitive edge:
     
T.B.R. Group is the only company in the market with the Zirconia Titanium technology. A new concept of Perio-integration is the main concept behind the technology.

The periodontium is the combination of hard and soft tissue that will support a tooth. The key debate in dental implantology is the good integration of an implant in order to have security, simplicity and aesthetics.

Implant manufacturers have focused on Osseo-integration (a phenomenon by which a dental implant binds with or forms a better attachment with the surrounding alveolar bone). Differentiating themselves from their competitors the company has brought about a focus on perio-integration (integration with both the bone and soft tissue) for a global integration in the periodontium. All the competitors are doing implants with titanium described as the best material for the bone but not the best for the gingiva. Titanium has weakness in terms of aesthetics, mechanical resistance and bacteriological colonization on the gingiva. The T.B.R. technology is answering these weaknesses, hence giving them the competitive advantage over the other competitors.

The surface aspect of ZT-Hybrid allows an optimized perio-integration due to the titanium surface aspect (bone integration) and zirconia (gingival integration). Zirconia enhances the fibroblast and osteoblast cell adhesion and proliferation compared to titanium, showing a more stable marginal tissue than with those seen around the titanium.

Key Benefits of T.B.R. Group dental implants making them seem as a challenge for the major industry participants:

• An optimized answer to a long term aesthetic result:

Zirconia Titanium implants guarantee a more natural transparence through the soft tissues. This seems like an almost perfect answer for long term aesthetics, particularly with the anterior segments of the oral cavity.

•  Zirconia optimized Biocompatibility offering better cellular solutions:

Zirconia-optimized biocompatibility with zirconia enhancing fibroblasts and osteoblasts cell adhesion and proliferation compared to titanium. Follow up have shown that the marginal tissues are more stable around the zirconia than the titanium. The coronal repositioning of the gingival margin and the spontaneous reconstruction of the gingival papillae are systematically observed around the zirconia surface of this implant.

Several well appreciated publications have even stated that Zirconia drastically reduces bacterial colonization at the TBR Z1 implant collar level, which makes it even more challenging to the competitors.

Conclusion:

The T.B.R. Group has carved a niche for itself, by investing substantially in R&D activities, and by posing as a challenge in a market characterised by the well-established Titanium technology. Through strategic marketing and a well-established distribution network in more than 40 countries, T.B.R. Group can fulfill the need for affordable yet accurate technology in the dental implant market. With the Hybrid Zirconia-Titanium dental implant patented technology, the company is focused on emerging as a market leader, posing a considerable challenge for its competitors. These cumulative factors make T.B.R. Group the deserving recipient of the 2007 Frost & Sullivan Award for Technology Innovation in the dental implant market.

About frost & Sullivan:
Frost & Sullivan, founded in 1916, has 26 global offices with  more than 1500 industry consultants, market research analysts, technology analysts and economists. Our mission is to research and analyze new market opportunities for corporate growth. We are the world leader in growth consulting and the integrated areas of technology research, market research, economic research, corporate best practices, training, customer research, competitive intelligence and coroprate strategy.