The Maillefer team marks 130 years of craftsmanship and innovation

Dentsply Sirona’s Maillefer brand is known for its leading endodontic products. This year, the brand turned 130 years old. This article shares some of that history and adherence to quality and forward thinking.

Auguste Maillefer, a watchmaker who became a dentist at the age of 48, realized that there was a need for instruments made by someone with a genuine understanding of dentistry. Therefore, in 1889 he began to design and manufacture his own instruments specifically made for dentistry. By combining his technical know-how and clinical experience, he was able to move one step ahead of other producers.

For many years thereafter the Maillefer brand remained a family company while continuing to stay at the cutting-edge of the dental market. In 1995, it was acquired by what was then DENTSPLY INTERNATIONAL. That partnership helped the brand to expand its reach internationally. That expansion has continued as part of Dentsply Sirona Endodontics. 130 years after its founding, Maillefer is still synonymous with innovation and Swiss precision in manufacturing. It produces more than one million files per day for customers all over the world. Located in Ballaigues, Switzerland, it is one of the largest employers in the canton of Vaud, currently employing more than 750 people.

The Maillefer production facility in Ballaigues pictured in its early days and today

130th jubilee at the ESE in Vienna

Dentsply Sirona marked Maillefer’s 130 years of “Continuity by Innovation,” by celebrating with customers and partners at the European Society of Endodontology’s (ESE) conference in Vienna, which took place from September 12-14, 2019. Prof. Dr. Ove Peters, the co-designer of TruNatomy (with Dr. George Bruder), gave a special workshop on endodontics at the congress and showed off the possibilities of the system.

The team worked hard to share Maillefer’s history through a social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with an every week call to action which allows everyone to win a limited edition of a typically Swiss object in the spirit of the times. The posts highlighted memories and experiences of longtime employees and partners and were a touching tribute to the brand. A curved line was included as a graphical representation of Maillefer’s “Continuity by Innovation” along with other visuals showing the people, products and location affiliated with the brand.

Technology has changed, but the passion of employees working their craft remains

Modern solutions to an age-old problem

The Maillefer brand is well known for its endodontic file systems such as the ProTaper and WaveOne Gold along with a range of equipment products including X-Smart and Propex. Recently, Maillefer combined its experience with the expertise of Dr. Georg Bruder, DMD and Dr. Ove Peters, DMD, MS, PhD to develop TruNatomy - the first comprehensive solution for root canal treatment developed to preserve as much dentin as possible and retain the structural integrity of the tooth.

It is a challenge for the dental profession to meet an increasing desire among patients to retain their natural teeth longer, ideally for life. A couple of years ago, Dr. Peters had the opportunity to speak at a joint conference of several specialty areas of dentistry in the US. The conference shed light on the topic of long-term retention of root canal-treated teeth and the factors that are at play. This helped him understand that restorative factors are indeed more often cited as what cause extraction of the root canal-treated tooth. This was the starting point for the development of TruNatomy. “When working on the TruNatomy design, the goal was to use all our existing experiences to create a solution that was confidence-inspiring, straight-forward to use and really works in the clinic,” said Dr. Peters. “It was specifically designed with day-to-day clinic operations in mind.”

TruNatomy is a complete solution with products that include the TruNatomy Orifice Modifier, the TruNatomy Glider – used to optimize the glide path prior to shaping –, shaping files available in three different sizes and working lengths, dedicated paper points, Conform Fit Gutta-Percha and new irrigation needle. The unique design enables the instrument to adjust to the natural tooth anatomy – rather than the other way around – and has a superior canal centering ability. This helps to limit the amount of dentin that needs to be removed. The TruNatomy Irrigation Needle ensures appropriate disinfection and TruNatomy paper points and gutta-percha points ensure complete the solution for a matching obturation.

The interest in the new TruNatomy solution at the meeting reaffirmed how Dentsply Sirona’s solutions are able to create a buzz within the market. Roughly 90 people were trained on the system during the three days. Conference attendees and journalists gave great feedback about the workshop and visited the exhibition booth afterwards with some great questions.

Ariane Papazoglou, Senior Product Manager, Ballaigues, Switzerland

Spotlight asked Dr. Peters what Auguste Maillefer would think about innovations like TruNatomy and the role that Maillefer plays in bringing them to market if he were around today. Dr. Peters responded by saying, “Excellent questions. He had the tradition of craftsmanship and precision. I hope he would approve of that part, and as a clinician I am sure he would be pleased with the functionality of this product!”

Over the years, Dentsply Sirona’s endodontic solutions have even been used on some surprising patients. For example, a root canal procedure on an eight-year old female bottlenose dolphin named Dumisa in Hong Kong and when two adult lions at the Abu Dhabi Wildlife Centre required endodontic treatment. For the latter case, the Dentsply Sirona Endodontics team developed a special sequence of files that reduced the amount of time the lions needed to be under anesthesia, lessening the profound effects it has on the animals’ physiology. Alongside the production of these custom files, the Company supported these treatments by donating an X-Smart iQ and ProTaper Gold files.

Dr. Clifford J. Ruddle, DDS, who designed the ProTaper and WaveOne Gold said, “I am quite sure that, in 1889, the Swiss founders of Maillefer never imagined Maillefer in 2019. What a remarkably profound impact the brand has made and continues to make as a leader in international healthcare. Maillefer’s genius is its people and their imagination to create novel, innovative, and highly useful products of impeccable quality that serve to empower clinicians, improve patient care, and transform lives.”

The Spotlight team would like to add its ‘Congratulations’ to the colleagues at Maillefer on 130 years of innovation and best wishes for many years of continued success.

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