DENTAL UPDATES
Straumann Group announces sale of DrSmile aligner business
execution which led to winning new customers and gaining market share … On the consumer side, selling DrSmile to Impress Group will give this company the necessary scale and patient journey expertise to further strengthen patient care to succeed in the European direct- to-consumer clear aligner market. Due to this new situation, we restated the figures and updated our outlook for 2024,” said Guillaume Daniellot, CEO of Straumann Group. DA
The Straumann Group announced on 13 Aug the signing of a definitive agreement to sell its DrSmile business to Impress Group. The transaction will see Straumann Group receive a minority shareholding of 20%, on a fully diluted basis, in the company. In December 2020, the Straumann Group has acquired DrSmile, a start-up company that was formed 2017 in Berlin and which developed into one of the leading providers of aligner treatment in Europe. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, Impress Group is a leading provider of clear aligners in Europe and operates a network of clinics in
countries such as Spain, the UK, Italy and Portugal. With the acquisition of DrSmile, Impress Group is said to be aiming to build a leadership position in the direct-to- consumer clear aligner space in Europe, by combining quality clinical treatment with consumer marketing expertise at scale. The news of the sale was made under an ad hoc announcement by Straumann Group where the company also shared its second quarter performances highlighting strong growth in key markets and sectors. “We are very pleased with the half-year results. Our double-digit revenue growth reflects the team’s continued strong
(Image: Straumann Group and DrSmile)
Penn Dental Medicine researchers exploring the regenerative properties of oral tissue
According to news shared by Penn Dental Medicine, results from researchers support an emerging concept that fibroblasts are actively involved in supporting the body’s immune response. These results are said to contrast with the traditional view that these cells are featureless building blocks for maintaining structure. “The potential of this finding is significant not only for periodontal regeneration — for instance, the ability to take grafts from tissues enriched with pro-healing fibroblasts — but also for its implications in other parts of body that heal sub-optimally. Regeneration over scar formation in response to injury is a huge topic,” said Dr Kang Ko, Assistant Professor in the Department of Periodontics. Researchers at Penn Dental Medicine pondered why scars rarely form in the mouth. To get a better handle on the exceptionally accelerated wound healing in
the oral cavity, Dr Ko's lab is investigating different populations of oral fibroblasts. These types of cells form connective tissue, and work from Dr Ko's studies is revealing they may play important roles in the wound healing process. “Oral tissues exhibit remarkably regenerative properties, unlike many other organs in the human body,” said Dr Ko. “The goal is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanism by which this occurs in the oral cavity, with the hope of employing therapeutics to enhance oral soft and hard tissue healing, as well as translating these unique healing properties to other body parts to promote regeneration over repair.” In a Journal of Experimental Medicine paper, the researchers reported finding a unique subset of oral fibroblasts that is primed to promote rapid wound healing. The team studied what happens to wounds
(Image: Penn Dental Medicine)
in mice in two different parts of the palate — the front, or anterior, region that heals rapidly and the back, or posterior, palate that heals more slowly. In the study, they identified a distinct population of cells called paired-related homeobox-1+ (Prx1+) fibroblasts in the anterior palate that are missing from the posterior section, and they showed that these cells are responsible for quick wound healing observed in the mouth. Transplanting these cells to the posterior palate sped up healing, and deleting the cells in the anterior section delayed the process. In human gingival samples, these Prx1+ fibroblasts were in the same locations and expressed the same genes. DA
6 DENTAL ASIA SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2024
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