DENTSPLY Friadent News

Alliance between Elephant Dental and DENTSPLY Friadent

11-23-2009 | DENTSPLY is reorganizing its laboratory business in Germany

In order better to meet the changing needs of laboratories in the future, DENTSPLY is planning to use additional synergistic effects within the group. At the beginning of next year, the of Elephant Dental GmbH, the German sales organization of the Dutch dental alloy and ceramic manufacturer, Elephant Dental BV, will be merged with DENTSPLY Friadent's field sales department  in Mannheim, Germany.

With the advent of digital technologies and new materials, as well as intensified network support for dentists, implant dentists, dental laboratories, and patients, the demands and daily work patterns of dental laboratories have changed drastically. The alliance between the two subsidiaries of DENTSPLY is designed to support the role of laboratories as competent advisers for dentists, implantologists and patients better still.

In recent years, DENTSPLY Friadent has been consistently expanding its influence in the dental laboratory business with "Laboratory Key Account Managers" and the establishment of a network of reference laboratories. The association with Elephant Dental GmbH is another step towards a stronger laboratory business for the successful supplier of implant solutions. The new colleagues from Elephant will initially be trained as experts in the fields of implant prosthetics and digital dentistry (CAD/CAM fabricated prostheses and bridges for implant systems, such as ANKYLOS, XiVE and FRIALIT, and ExpertEase implant placement navigation software) and will provide additional manpower for the DENTSPLY Friadent laboratory division.

This alliance has the advantage for customers of Elephant that in future – in addition to harmonized product systems for fixed dentures (alloys and ceramics) – they will also be able to offer systems in these important growth areas.

As part of the realignment, effective immediately, orders for alloys and ceramics from Elephant GmbH will be processed by the German-speaking customer service department at the main Elephant office in the Netherlands, which is already responsible for warehousing. All current numbers for ordering (free telephone and free fax) will remain in use and will be diverted appropriately. Contact persons in field sales will also remain unchanged for Elephant customers, and from 2010, according to the plans, they will only serve their customers as part of the DENTSPLY Friadent sales organization.

"We are looking forward to offering our laboratory customers more than we can offer from just one source and being able to work with them long-term in a dynamic growth area," says DENTSPLY Friadent Managing Director, Dr. Werner Groll. "For this purpose, our parent company DENTSPLY, as a world market leader in the dental field, offers a powerful organization in all important dental segments, as well as outstanding product quality."