Dentist thriving at fast clip

Simon McDonald spends most of the week at his dental practice in Katikati. Pictures / Alan Gibson

Fed up with the fiddliness of dental restoration work, Katikati dentist Simon McDonald invented a simple device that has developed into a successful business.

Of all the problems he faced when switching from hospital dentistry to general practice, getting a good fit between teeth in restoration work such as crowns got on his goat the most.

The three-step process was time-consuming and awkward, particularly for cavities on the side or between teeth.

It required placing a tiny curved stainless steel shim called a matrix between the teeth, then inserting a tiny wedge in the gap with tweezers, which often pushed the matrix out.

When the two were delicately balanced a retainer spring was placed over the teeth to separate them, so the matrix could be wrapped round the tooth to create a mould.

The whole process was made more cumbersome by being carried out back-to-front in a mirror.

"It's small and fiddly work on a person with a tongue that waves around and is all wet when we're trying to keep it dry," said McDonald, a dentist with 25 years' experience.

And on 20 per cent of occasions it did not work properly at the first attempt.

"They say a workman blames his tools, so I thought it was just me."

But determination to come up with a better method drove McDonald to find a way to put the wedge, shim and retainer spring in place simultaneously.

He tested about 200 prototypes over a year. None of them worked properly, but the feeling he was getting close spurred him on.

Friends and family, sold on his enthusiasm, contributed early capital and he finally employed Auckland plastics manufacturer Adept to help in finetuning the idea.

The resulting Tri-Clip was launched in 2002 at the annual conference of the Dental Association. Half the dentists there bought it immediately.

Not only does it simplify and speed up the restoration procedure, it allows dentists to achieve excellent "contact" between teeth and reduces the use of amalgam - which has a high mercury component.

McDonald broke into the US market through trade fairs. American dentists now buy 95 per cent of the 10,000 Tri-Clips produced each month, paying US$85 ($117) for 50 clips.

McDonald's inventing has not stopped there.

His second dental invention, the V-Ring, is now on the market and the company has been fulfilling back orders since it was launched last month. A progression of the Tri-Clip, the V-Ring is a super-elastic retainer ring that helps the restoration process further by separating the teeth.

With two products on the go, business is picking up.

If McDonald reaches his sales target of 400 V-Ring kits a month, the spreadsheet tells him he is in for $1 million in profit this year.

He compared his business TrioDent to a cottage industry. Adept makes the Tri-Clip parts and they are assembled by four part-time staff. The V-Ring is made by a local tool manufacturer.

The business employs a full-time product manager and now has a US distributor.

McDonald splits his time between his dental practice, Gentle Dental (four days a week), and the business.

He has developed his own website and takes care of the advertising.

The Tri-Clip has attracted the attention of dentists in Europe and McDonald recently signed a distribution deal for Britain.

 

ON THE WEB www.triodent.com