Neoss, based in Harrogate, UK, was founded in 2000 by Neil Meredith and Frederik Engman to commercialise a novel dental implant system. Recognising the complexity of existing implant systems - which may have as many as 3,000 components - the pair have developed a highly rationalised system with fewer than 100 components.
The complexity of current implants means they can only be installed by specialist implantologists. Neoss’s devices promises to expand the market for dental implants because they can be used by general practitioners.
Implants consist of titanium roots that are placed in the jawbone to support a crown or artificial tooth. The global market is worth over $1 billion per year, and is growing by 16 – 17 per cent a year. Simplifying implants should also enable them to take a larger market share from alternative forms of tooth replacement such as bridges and dentures.
Meredith has previously held positions at the universities of Leeds, Bristol and Gothenburg, and at the Eastman Dental Institute in London. In 1998 he co-founded another company, Osstel to exploit technology for monitoring the performance of implants that was developed at Imperial College London.
Fredrik Engman was a surface development engineer at Volvo and worked for Nobel Biocare as senior product development engineer working on dental implants.
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