|
SULZER CALCITEK ANNOUNCES PATENT OF HYDROXYLAPATITE (HA) COATING TECHNOLOGY: Patent Issued for Sulzer Calcitek&'s HA-Coated Dental Implants and MP-1™ Coating Process
CARLSBAD, CA (May 18, 1998) -- Sulzer Calcitek announces the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent Number 5,730,598 for the company&'s HA dental implants and its MP-1 coating process for treating dental implants plasma sprayed with HA.
Dr. Brooks Story and Ms. Ann Burgess of Sulzer Calcitek's Research and Development Department are co-inventors of the MP-1 coating process. MP-1 is a carefully controlled process that uses hydrothermal energy to increase the crystalline HA content of plasma sprayed coatings to 97%.1 Crystalline HA is the most desirable of the components in an HA coating because it is more stable and less soluble than the others, e.g., alpha and beta tricalcium phosphates, tetracalcium phosphate and calcium oxide. An independent university study showed other commercially available HA coatings have 38% to 70% crystalline HA content.1
"This patent supports our position that we offer a unique coating that no other dental implant manufacturer has available," said Steven Hanson, Sulzer Calcitek's president.
The MP-1 process is now in full production on Sulzer Calcitek's HA-coated Spline™ dental implants.
Sulzer Calcitek, a global leader in the dental implant industry, is committed to bringing high quality medical devices to the oral rehabilitation market. For more information, please call Zimmer Dental at 800-854-7019 in the U.S., 760-929-4300 outside the U.S., 800-363-2876 in Canada.
1 Independent university study; data on file.
MP-1 and Spline are trademarks of Sulzer Calcitek Inc. MP-1 is protected by U.S. Patent No. 5,730,598. A260, rev. 4/98
|
|
