Celebrating 30-years of democratizing implants treatment in Brazil, the company advances in developing solutions to make oral health accessible to the population.
“In the 1990s, over a third of the Brazilian population couldn’t even dream of properly taking care of their oral health, let alone consider dental implants,” declares Geninho Thomé, a dentist and founder of Neodent, a leading implantology company in Brazil based in Curitiba (PR). He also recalls that this reality led him to realize the need to study ways to expand access to dental implants in Brazil. “I understood that it was necessary to democratize this technology, ensuring both safety and product quality at the same time,” he says.
And it was through hard work that this became possible. In the 90s, after intensifying his studies in the United States, one of the countries with the most advanced research on the subject, Geninho Thomé received a titanium bar from a professor. Between appointments, he would sketch and create his first implants in his laboratory. Neodent was born in 1993, right after the dentist finally achieved the desired model.
“Three decades later, we have Neodent as one of the largest and best companies in the field,” says Geninho Thomé, with pride. Thanks to the company’s evolution, patients are now served on every continent — more than half of its production is exported to 90 countries. “Even with the internationalization of the company following the acquisition by Straumann Group, Neodent maintains its roots with its headquarters in Curitiba, which is also known as the ‘smile town’”, emphasizes Neodent’s CEO, Matthias Schupp.
The company, currently a leader in the dental implant segment in Brazil, is responsible for nearly 60% of the market share and relies on high-tech equipment imported from Germany and Italy. “Our leadership is based on market knowledge and internal research,” explains Matthias Schupp. According to the CEO, the company predicts a 300% growth in its production capacity in ten years.
FOCUS ON INNOVATION AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Another goal that is always on Neodent’s radar is innovation. “We constantly live in search of solutions that help transform people’s lives and smiles,” says Geninho Thomé, the company’s founder. He highlights that investments in technology have placed Neodent in a
prominent position in global Implantology, with the development of products that still make history in Dentistry.
One of the milestones was the Grand Morse implant, launched in 2017 and still the bestselling product internationally. “It’s not by
chance that it is our sales leader; it marked the history of the company. Until then, different implants were produced for each bone density, but the GM can be used in all types of bones,” explains Geninho. Neodent was also a global pioneer in treatments using the “immediate loading” technique, where surgery and the installation of the temporary prosthesis are performed on the same day.
Even after the sale of Neodent to the Swiss Straumann group in 2015, Geninho Thomé continues as the scientific president, actively participating in the creation of new products. An example is the implants system Zi, which took six years of work from the company’s teams and researchers from Brazil, Switzerland, and Germany. “The distinctive feature of this ceramic implant is aesthetic quality. Its white color provides a more natural appearance, similar to the tooth root, while maintaining safety and efficacy comparable to titanium implants,” explains Geninho Thomé.
Digital transformation is also an integral part of Neodent’s business strategy, offering innovative solutions for the sector, such as software and equipment. An example is the intraoral scanner, which captures precise details of the mouth through three-dimensional scanning, eliminating the discomfort usually associated with conventional molds. Developed by the Straumann Group, the Virtuo Vivo Intraoral Scanner goes beyond the needs of orthodontists regarding teeth positioning and alignment correction, offering solutions for all dentistry specialties. “We can consider that there has been greater democratization in access to treatments due to the availability of products and solutions developed by Neodent. We were pioneers in supporting dentists in digitizing their offices, making treatments faster and more accurate,” says CEO Matthias Schupp.
