implants - international magazine of oral implantology

2_201336 l’intervista _ Richard Laube Interview: “Patients do not just want implants; they want teeth” Author_ Fred Michmershuizen, DTA & Daniel Zimmermann, DTI Mr Laube, this is the first Global Sympo- sium you are attending as CEO of Nobel Bio- care. Has the event met your expectations? So far the meeting has been a pleasant sur- prise for us. We were sold out already in April and even had to turn 500 to 600 customers away. On the positive side, this makes it a real special event. We were a little bit nervous about the logistics, but all went very well. Speakers have also been extremely disciplined and very focused in their messages that they wanted to convey. I am only hearing good things from the participants. You joined Nobel Biocare during turbu- lent times. What is the state of the company compared to when you took over as CEO in 2011? It is true that we have been drifting over the years but we are back with patient-focused, cli- nically-relevant and evidence-based innovation. We are in materially better shape today to when I joined the company two years ago. The results from Q1/2013 were a pleasant surprise as we ex- pected the numbers to be lower. We are seeing good things in our business and are confident we can keep this momentum going. Since 2011 we have brought three new implants into the market and upgraded our NobelClinician and NobelPro- cera software platforms. We also announced a new second-generation NobelProcera 2G Scanner and introduced the OsseoCare Pro for iPad. We also have a couple of new announcements here. All this combined offers probably the most exci- ting product line-up in the industry and provides us with the opportunity of leading the industry again. I also think that we have good stability in the team which is very important. A workforce consists of business relationships and you can’t have that relationship by changing people. You have been working for big corpora- tions like Néstle in the past. How does the dental industry differ from your previous working experiences? It has taken me some time to adjust but I have been learning quickly for the team’s sake. General- ly speaking, to work in the dental market is like a contact sport where you have to deal with custo- mers on the frontline every day. Take this sympo- sium for example, where 2,000 of our customers have gathered. The size of Nobel Biocare is also much smal- ler and I learned that even the slightest changes can have a dramatic impact on the whole orga- nization. Therefore, you have to be thoughtful about every decision you take. On the other hand, With a record number of 2,000 participants, dental implant solutions provider Nobel Biocare held its second Global Symposium in New York City last week. Dental Tribune ONLINE had the exclusive opportunity to speak with CEO Richard Laube about the state of his company, problems in Asia and the newly launched Foundation for Oral Rehabilitation. Richard Laube ARTICOLO IN LINGUA ORIGINALE