COLOGNE, Germany: Electro Medical Systems (EMS) is a Swiss-based company specializing in products for dental prophylaxis. DTI spoke with company owner Bernd Bühner at IDS Cologne about a booming market and how the company is planning to participate in this development.

DTI: Mr Bühner, EMS is a synonym for Swiss quality and accuracy. In which way are EMS products setting the trend for the dental industry?
Bernd Bühner: The role of EMS as a trendsetter is shown all too clearly by the fact that the “AIR-FLOW method” has become a fixed term for prophylaxis with powder-jet units. Since the introduction of AIR-FLOW to the market 25 years ago, EMS has been the market and innovation leader in this field. Our product name stands for a method that is used successfully for prophylaxis in thousands of practices worldwide. We play a similar trend setting role with our piezo-ceramic ultrasound units. Pierre Mabille, who invented this technology, was co-founder of EMS 27 years ago. At the time, the Piezon method was a novelty, and it is leading worldwide today. We are very proud of the fact that the latest clinical studies confirm the superiority of our products again and again.

An indicator of the pioneering character of products is the number of copies on the international market. The more successful a product, the more copies of it there are. EMS is one of the most copied companies in the dental market.

Copies can damage teeth and cause patients pain. They destroy the high-quality titanium-sonotrodes of our handpieces like a threader. When you buy the original, this may be a bit more expensive, but thanks to its Swiss quality and a longer useful life, you get a better return on your investment.

The “I feel good” comes for free!

One of the product highlights at IDS is the PERIO powder-jet handpiece which is the first prophylaxis unit worldwide that removes 100 per cent of the biofilm under the gingiva as well. What share does EMS have in the booming prophylaxis market?
When we established EMS, we made prophylaxis our main focus of work. Even though there was practically no professional tooth cleaning in Germany at the time, we believed that we would be successful.

Confirmed by the success of prophylaxis mainly in Scandinavia and in Switzerland, we considerably increased our efforts in Germany over the past five years. Not only in the form of investments in the development of products, but also regarding the initiation of scientific studies and the publication of the results. For this purpose, we organised information conferences for our trading partners. The objective of the Swiss Dental Academy we established is the training of dental prophylaxis assistants in professional tooth cleaning.

With the products and know-how that we impart, patients are offered prophylaxis that is almost pain free. After diagnosis and treatment planning, the initial treatment is conducted without pain by using the EMS Piezon method, and then moving forward using our novel product Piezon Master 700. Depending on the patient’s individual risk, it may be recommended to follow a recall programme for especially patient-friendly removal of biofilm with the supra- and subgingival AIR-FLOW method.

Patients are very open to the topic of prophylaxis. Do dentists fully exhaust this potential, and where would you see reservations?
Here at EMS, we assume that a 20 percent maximum of German practices offer and carry out professional tooth cleaning on a really professional level. The potential is many times higher, and the patients are clearly in need of it. Eighty per cent of adults in Germany have moderate to severe periodontitis. And there is no doubt regarding the positive outcome of this individual health service. Professional tooth cleaning is recommended by all relevant media sources, experts and insurance companies. It is up to the practices to follow the “mega-trend of prophylaxis.” We, and our trading partners, are ready.

What are the new ideas that you take home from the IDS?
True to our motto, “I feel good.”

Thank you very much for this interview.