SensAble’s Dental Lab System Wins Prestigious “WOW!” Award from the
Journal of Dental Technology

Recognized for its Use of Haptics to Help Labs Transition to Digital Design, and the
Exceptional Speed, Consistency that Brings Dentist Raves, Adds Efficiency, Enables New Business

WOBURN, MA – October 5, 2010– SensAble Technologies Inc., a leading provider of  dental restoration design and fabrication solutions, 3D modeling software and haptic devices, announced that Journal of Dental Technology, the monthly magazine of the National Association of Dental Labs (NADL), has named the SensAble Dental Lab System as one of its 2010 WOW! Products.  Awarded annually, JDT’s WOW! Product awards honor solutions that save dental laboratory owners time, money and improve dental restoration quality.

The award adds further acclaim to the SensAble Dental Lab System, the only lab-proven, integrated solution for the scanning, design and fabrication of removable metal and flexible partial dentures as well as fixed crowns and bridges.  SensAble’s system enables new lines of business, and offers lab owners an effective way to increase productivity, offsetting the shrinking pool of skilled technicians.  In a market still dominated by technicians painstakingly designing by hand in wax and porcelain, SensAble’s CAD/CAM solution allows labs to digitally design multiple restoration types with unmatched speed and precision – completing digital designs two to three times faster than waxing by hand – and make more restorations in the same amount of time.  The system’s automation of tedious time-consuming steps along with user-defined design settings specific to each lab and to each lab’s individual doctors, ensure an incredibly high level of consistency, giving labs the freedom to utilize technicians of varying skill levels to turn out the same great-fitting restorations every time.

Along with providing the speed, precision and consistency of a digital solution, the SensAble system’s expansive capabilities allow labs to take on new business, or take back business they may have previously out-sourced, such as partial dentures – a restoration type that previously could not be designed and fabricated digitally.

The SensAble Dental Lab System is also the only solution that integrates haptics – the sense of touch – enabling lab technicians to literally feel the dental restoration as they design it on screen using a 3D “Virtual Touch” stylus.  SensAble’s haptics makes the system intuitive, direct, even fun to use – a key factor in helping labs attract and retain young, new talent.  With lab technicians retiring in record numbers and only about 220 lab technicians graduating from training programs in the US each year¹,  attracting new GenX workers is an industry-wide challenge. 

“’Wow!’ was the first thing we said when we tried SensAble’s system, too – so it makes perfect sense that they’d win this award,” said Judd Ryan, president of Sonshine Dental Labs, Inc. in Newark, Delaware.  “SensAble’s system continues to help us save time and produce exceptionally accurate, well-fitting restorations that in turn, save our doctors’ chair time and provide patients with high quality dental aesthetics.  What’s not ‘Wow! ‘about that?” 

Only those with ties to the dental laboratory industry can nominate a WOW! Product.  A panel of dental laboratory owners and technicians review all nominated products and choose only the best to be awarded as a JDT WOW! Product.

The WOW! winners are announced every year in the October issue of the Journal of Dental Technology.  The Journal of Dental Technology is published by the National Association of Dental Laboratories, and is the official voice of dental laboratory technology.

“In the US alone, dental restorations are a $11B market² , so the time is now for dental labs to transition to new digital design and fabrication systems that will streamline their businesses and give them the higher productivity they need in order to meet the challenges of ever-increasing price pressures,” said Bob Steingart, president of SensAble Dental Products.  “We are delighted by NADL’s acknowledgement that our SensAble Dental Lab System is a powerful and practical CAD/CAM solution, and to give our customers yet another reason to say “Wow!”

About SensAble Technologies

Founded in 1993, SensAble Technologies is the leading developer of 3D touch-enabled (force feedback) solutions and technology that allow users to not only see and hear an on-screen computer application, but to actually “feel” it.  With 41 patents granted and over 8,000 systems installed worldwide, SensAble Technologies' haptic technology is being used in applications ranging from designing toys and footwear, to surgical simulation and stroke rehabilitation, to dental restorations, as well as a range of research and robotic applications.  The company markets its own 3D modeling solutions as well as its haptic devices and developer toolkits to medical, dental, design, and manufacturing companies; educational and research institutions; and OEMs. SensAble products are available through direct and reseller channels worldwide.  www.sensabledental.com.

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¹ Lab Management Technology, “State of the Industry Survey: Original Research,” February 2010, as published at http://www.lmtmag.com/article/424.

²  “US Market for Dental Prosthetics and CAD/CAM Devices,” iData Research, published March 2009.

SensAble and SensAble Technologies, Inc. are trademarks or registered trademarks of SensAble Technologies, Inc.  Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.