The Strategy Message
We believe gold is the premier material for posterior dental restorations. When comparing gold alloy’s characteristics: hardness, antagonistic wear, malleability, biocompatibility, ease of cementation and removal, as well as perhaps the longest standing positive track record of any material ever used in restoring posterior teeth compared to any other prosthetic material; gold
cannot be beat as a restorative material choice. Other milling materials are comparatively inexpensive in their "raw" form, and manufacturing these into a useable product has provided them to the industry as relatively inexpensive restorative options. That does not override our belief that if a characteristic comparison were to be made between these other materials and gold; they would fall short. A 2012 nationwide survey of dentists showed that 80.94% believe gold is the best material for restoring posterior teeth. We realized a unique opportunity in the marketplace as a precious metal refiner with a high dental IQ among its staff, and began to think differently about how we could challenge the competition for posterior restorations. How could we play a role in restoring a timeless restoration to its proper standing in the marketplace? As we observe the increase in digitization of dental processes, which enable laboratories to manufacture more efficiently and at lower cost; during the simultaneous increase of precious metal prices, it begs the question, “How can we facilitate a shift to bring this great product back to the position it formerly held as an incredibly successful material of choice?”
Approximately 30 different milling machines were investigated then distilled to three companies. We interviewed the manufacturers to determine the best mill for the job, as well as the best company to support our business model needs. We wanted robust, high precision mills and purchased three Roeders RXD5 machines. We wanted automation to handle lights out operation for up to 72 hours and added Roeders RCS-1 Automation Robots and Magazines to each mill. We needed a supply of gold discs to mill and spent approximately one year in research and development creating a one of a kind proprietary process that produces relatively porosity-free gold pucks of different thicknesses, in-house for our own consumption. “Atlantic”, a state-of-the-art precious metal refiner, is able to refine precious metal scrap back to pure elements. Atlantic has the necessary tools in place to create, monitor, maintain and test our alloys with laser and inductively coupled spectrograph technology. These technologies and our trained staff are what allow us to quickly evaluate any lot of metal, determine its elemental makeup vs. its standard, make any adjustments necessary, and consistently produce the next lot of alloy for the mills. It makes sense that usage of gold alloy substructures and gold crown restorations would decline, as gold prices grow higher, thus becoming prohibitive for doctors to prescribe. Now labs have an alternative that has never been seen before, the Direct CAD/CAM all-gold crown. As long as gold crowns are still being produced in the marketplace; and there is a proven resource that has invested in the best technology available to provide more economical product, a Direct CAD/CAM Gold crown makes great sense if one needs to be fabricated. We are Strategy Milling; the first large-scale, commercially viable source for Direct CAD/CAM milled gold crowns in North America.
