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Industry News

The Industry News section helps keep you informed and up-to-date about what’s happening in the dental profession. If there is information you would like to share in this section, please email your news releases to kyle@farranmedia.com. All material is subject to editing and space availability.
Henry Schein Announces Call for Entries for Inaugural Henry Schein Cares Medal
Henry Schein has announced the creation of the Henry Schein Cares Medal, which will be awarded annually to organizations that demonstrate excellence in expanding access to care for the underserved.

Through the Henry Schein Cares global corporate social responsibility program, the company uses its resources to support health-care professionals around the world who provide care for those who would otherwise receive little or no medical attention. The medal will honor organizations whose work has been especially effective in bringing care to those in need.

Nine finalists will be selected among applicants from the fields of oral health, animal health and medical health. From those nine finalists, a medalist will be selected from each field, for a total of three medalists. Each of the nine finalists will receive $10,000 worth of product from Henry Schein for use in caring for the underserved, and each of the three medalists will receive an additional $15,000 in cash from the Henry Schein Cares Foundation to support their charitable work. The finalists will be notified in January 2016, and the medalists will be announced at a gala event in New York City later in 2016.

For more information on the program, and to apply for the award, please visit www.Hscaresfoundation.org/apply.asp.

Dental Practices Can Transact CareCredit from Softdent

CareCredit has integrated a transaction feature into the new version 16 of CS Softdent by Carestream Dental. Now dental practices can submit CareCredit applications and process transactions without leaving their CS Softdent Practice Management Software.

This new transaction feature saves valuable time and makes it easier for busy practices to help patients get care. In addition to the new transaction feature, the CS Softdent V 16.2 update also includes a new account lookup feature that makes it easy for practices to access a patient's account information if the patient doesn't have their CareCredit card available.

Version 16 of CS Softdent is available now. Dental practices that currently use CS Softdent and have a support contract can upgrade to the new version of software for free. Practices currently accepting CareCredit who upgrade to the newest version of CS Softdent can immediately begin processing transactions in addition to submitting CareCredit applications through their software. For more information, call (800) 859-9975.

American Dental Association Announces Exclusive Student-Loan Refinancing Offer
The American Dental Association (ADA) has announced an exclusive endorsement with Darien Rowayton Bank (DRB). The endorsement allows ADA member dentists the opportunity to refinance existing federal and private undergraduate and graduate school loans at a lower rate to save tens of thousands of dollars, on average.

The DRB low-rate student-refinance loan, offered at both fixed and variable rates, is one of the many resources that the ADA provides to new dentists. The ADA endorsement not only gives ADA members access to one of the lowest student-loan-refinance lenders in the country, but the ADA has also secured DRB preferential interest rates for its members who qualify.

DRB's chairman of the board Gary Lieberman said dentists who refinance with DRB can save an average of $38,000* with a fixed-rate refinance loan. Only ADA member dentists are eligible for this offer, and annual renewal of ADA membership is a requirement to receive the lower rates per the terms of the agreement.

* Annual percentage rate. Savings of $38,000 over the life of the loan assumes loan size of $247,000 with an average rate of 7.25 percent before refinancing and 4.75 percent (with EFT discount and ADA member discount) after refinancing on a 10-year fixed rate loan.

DENTSPLY and Sirona Enter Into Definitive Merger Agreement

On Sept. 15, DENTSPLY International and Sirona Dental Systems announced that boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement.

The combination will create a combined company with the largest sales and service infrastructure in dental with 15,000 employees globally.

"This is an exciting day for both companies, for the dental community and for patients around the globe. We are bringing together two world-class companies that share a culture of innovation and will foster the development of differentiated, integrated solutions for general practitioners and specialists, particularly in the highest growth segments of the dental industry," said Jeffrey T. Slovin, president and CEO of Sirona. "Combining Sirona's proven digital solutions and equipment with DENTSPLY's leading consumables platform creates the most comprehensive dental solutions offering available to meet customer demand in every key segment. I look forward to leading the talented teams of both Sirona and DENTSPLY as we drive the global digitization of dentistry, offer superior solutions to customers and patients, and create The Dental Solutions Company."

The combined company, supported by its leading platforms in consumables, equipment and technology, will offer a powerful set of complementary offerings and end-to-end solutions to enhance patient care. Dental professionals across the globe will be supported by one of the largest sales-and-service infrastructure in the industry, supported by leading distributors, to deliver an optimized product range that will meet the increasing global demand for digital dentistry and integrated solutions.

"We are excited about bringing together two industry leaders," said Bret W. Wise, chairman and CEO of DENTSPLY. "DENTSPLY SIRONA will offer a comprehensive line of solutions to more effectively meet the needs of dental professionals all over the world and advance patient care. With a strong financial profile, comprehensive product offerings and integrated solutions, DENTSPLY SIRONA will be uniquely positioned to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders and make dentistry better, faster and safer around the world. I look forward to working with Jeff and the combined management team to deliver on this mission."

The combined company will be called DENTSPLY SIRONA and trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol XRAY. DENTSPLY SIRONA's global headquarters will be located in York, Pennsylvania, the location of DENTSPLY's current headquarters, and the international headquarters will be located in Salzburg, Austria.


Townies React to Merger News

Once the news of the DENTSPLY Sirona merger became known to the public, Townies took to the message boards to discuss the situation. To find this conversation, search for, "Dentsply buying Sirona" or visit Dentaltown.com/DentsplySirona.

"[In] my mind big mergers seem to favor the company over the customer. This is a premature criticism leveled before any actual information has been provided, but judging by other mergers (airlines, telecom) the news is not guaranteed to be favorable for the consumer. There is a reason why there are anti-monopoly laws, and it's not to protect CEOs. Has anyone tried booking travel lately? The glory days of early 2000s cheap flights is absent at least for the time being. Oh well, let's see what happens."
-dominickiii

"The track record of large M&A is spotty at best. The success rate is not very good. They tend to be good for stockholders, not so great over the long term for the companies themselves. Lots of hurdles—management differences, culture of the companies, customers and how they view the transaction—tricky business on a small level, let alone the multi-billion dollar level."
-TimmyG

"Could get interesting. If the merger doesn't keep the Sirona software/hardware engineers happy, they might jump ship and join other projects to help others catch up, perhaps with a more open approach to technology."
-drfredc

"DENTSPLY will be majority owner. [It] would appear that DENTSPLY holds the upper hand in this going forward. Will be interesting to see if Slovin is able to hold onto the CEO position over the next couple of years."
-TimmyG

"More reflections on how relationships might change: Ivoclar had a patent dispute with Dentsply over CAD/CAM blocks which was settled at the end of last year: Sirona has always had a great relationship with Ivoclar. I think it is safe to say that eMax blocks are the dominant item milled in CEREC machines. This is how things look now … it's just like the time when your friend [Ivoclar] got into a big fight with a girl [Dentsply] and then you [Sirona] married that girl less than a year later. You are probably not great friends anymore, but you still say hello at the holiday parties." -NY2AZ



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