Dental News - The new BIOLASE: Practice growth assured

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The new BIOLASE: Practice growth assured

BIOLASE President and CEO Jeffrey Nugent at the company's booth during the International Dental Show in Cologne, Germany. (Photograph: Sierra Rendon, Dental Tribune America)
Sierra Rendon, Dental Tribune America

Sierra Rendon, Dental Tribune America

Thu. 19 March 2015

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IRIVINE, Calif., USA/COLOGNE, Germany: In 2015, BIOLASE, a leader in the dental laser segment, has had quite a number of changes, including a new president and CEO; a renewed focus on placing customers first; new and improved products, such as WaterLase iPlus 2.0 and EPIC X; and its groundbreaking Practice Growth Guarantee.

BIOLASE's new president and CEO, Jeffrey Nugent, was initially appointed interim CEO in June 2014 and accepted the permanent role of president and CEO in September. Previously, Nugent had served as President and CEO of Neutrogena and Revlon.

"Having worked in dermatology for the better part of the last ten to 15 years and, before that, in a number of other businesses, I know that less than 10 percent of dermatologists used lasers 15 years ago," Nugent said. "Today, virtually every dermatologist has at least one or two lasers in his or her practice for real patient–practice benefits," he stated.

"Coming into BIOLASE, I saw the profound differences that lasers can make in the practice of dentistry. It's a market in need of improved clinical benefits, patient preference in terms of significant pain reduction, and practice growth opportunities for our primary audience, which is dentists."

To that end, Nugent said that one of the first things he did at BIOLASE was shut down its focus on any segment other than dental lasers.

"We're essentially refocusing the direction of the company almost 180 degrees," he said. "One of our objectives is that a minimum of 30 percent of our revenue every year will come from new or improved products."

This is in line with the company's refocus on placing customers first. "Our commitment to the dental professional is the most important thing that we do," Nugent said.

New and improved products by BIOLASE include both EPIC X and WaterLase iPlus 2.0.

"We introduced a new diode laser, EPIC X, back in November, that is the result of a total focus on quality," Nugent said. "And [in February] in Chicago, we introduced the new WaterLase 2.0, which is a product upgrade offering significant improvements to uptime and functionality."

Another new concept from BIOLASE is the Practice Growth Guarantee, which is an industry first in dentistry, according to Nugent.

"The Practice Growth Guarantee is our commitment to dentists that we are going to guarantee that they will grow their practice by focusing on the seven core procedures identified by dentists as the most important,” Nugent said. “We assure them that we are going to work with them by providing practice marketing materials and more training assistance. With the increased ease of use of the WaterLase, it all works together to address the No. 1 need that we hear from dentists: growing their business. That's not to diminish the dentists' focus on clinical outcomes and patient needs, but they are business people and they want to build their practice."

Practice growth could mean a number of different things, according to Nugent. It might mean more patients, it might mean more referrals or it might mean being able to treat many of the patients who before would have been sent elsewhere.

"We're partnering with the dentist and, in six months, if you haven't grown your practice, we're going to come in and do an analysis and figure out why. And we'll come back and give you more resources."

BIOLASE believes that practice growth arises from clinicians enhancing patient experience.

"One of the things we're really focused on is making sure that dentists retain more of their patients and don't have to refer out or not nearly as many patients as they did before because they're now capable of handling those procedures," Nugent said.

For more information on EPIC X, WaterLase iPlus 2.0 or BIOLASE's Practice Growth Guarantee, visit www.biolase.com.

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