If you didn’t see it, you should. It was inarguably the “A” story of the Dragon’s Den Season 12 premiere in late September. Jim didn’t even hesitate. He made an offer the instant the pitch was over. By the end of the segment, a team of three Dragons competed against a team of two – after Manjit pulled her initial offer. In the end, the guys from New Age Performance got what they came for and more: 100K for a seven percent royalty for seven years and the collective marketing expertise of Arlene Dickinson, Joe Mimran, and Michele Romanow. So what was the product that had all six Dragons smoking? In early October, only days after the premier episode aired on CBC, Spotlight on Business spoke with the product’s co-inventor and New Age Performance shareholder Dr. Anil Makkar and company CEO and co- owner Rob Charlton about the mouthpieces that are poised to “change the way that sports is played.”
By David MacDonald F OR ALL YOU REGULAR READERS of Spotlight on Business, the name Dr. Anil Makkar is ringing a bell – I know it is. Back in February the magazine profiled his Truro, Nova Scotia dental practice, Victoria Court Dental. If you need a quick reminder: he’s been a practicing dentist in his hometown of Truro since 1989; he reaches out to people in need with his practice’s annual Free Dental Day; he makes it his mission to be among the first in Colchester County to infuse new technology and methods into his practice; and he’s a scrupulous man, as this quote from February’s article attests to: “When we make an investment in technology like this, we like to see it in action first. We find an office in Canada where the equipment is already making an impact. We like to travel there and spend half a day observing how the
machine is used, how it’s changing the visit for the patient and the practitioner, and really consider if it’s something that will work at our office.” Dr. Makkar’s thoroughness – his couldn’t-be- more-honest attention to detail –stuck with me, which is why I wasn’t at all surprised to discover during our chat in October that the benefits of New Age Performance mouthpieces have been verified by studies at Ohio State, Rutgers, and the Universi- ty of Connecticut. I also wasn’t surprised to discover that Dr. Makkar, a Doctor of Dental Surgery who focuses on TMJ therapy and occlu- sion and who lives to learn more than 35-years after his formal education at Dalhousie University, played an active role in the research itself.
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NOVEMBER 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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