Tactile Technologies, which develops a system for inserting dental implants into the jaw using a tiny robot, has completed a first round of fundraising in the amount of 4 million dollars
The ILS (Implant Location System) developed by Tactile combines bone mapping and wireless navigation technologies using a robot
Tactile Technologies, which develops the ILS (Implant Location System) system for inserting dental implants into the jaw using a tiny robot, has completed its first round of recruitment. Dr. Gerald Niznick, founder of the Paragon implant company, which was sold in 2002 to Zolzer Medical for $100 million, invested $4 million in the company. Solzer Medical was later sold to American Center Falls, one of the three largest implant companies in the world. After the investment, Dr. Gerald Niznik became a senior and active partner in Tactile Technologies.
Tactile Technologies was founded in 2003 by a group that includes the physicists Dr. Tzvika Slovin, who serves as the company's CEO, and Uriel Weinstein, the director of development. The founding team of Tactile Technologies also includes Prof. Haim Tal, who serves as the head of the Department of Periodontology and the Chair of Dental Implants at Tel Aviv University and chairs the Clinical Advisory Board of Tactile, Dr. Michal Shohat, who leads the clinical development, and Attorney Rami Manoah. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tactile Technologies is Amichai Ben David, who founded and managed the investment company DCL which was a partner in the establishment of many technology companies such as: RDC, Innoveda, Millimetrics (where Amichai Ben David serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors) and more.
The team of Tactile Technologies entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs with proven experience in establishing technology companies and turning them into successful companies. In recent years, companies and corporations abroad such as Marconi, FORE and others have purchased technology companies founded by a team of Tactile entrepreneurs.
The insertion of dental implants and their correct placement in the jaw is a surgical process that requires knowledge, skill and experience. In 2003 there were over 2 million dental implants in the western world. Mistakes in the surgical insertion of implants may cause them to be placed in the wrong direction, causing difficulties in restoring the implants and/or their failure on the one hand, and irreversible damage to various anatomical structures in the jaws, including damage to central nerves and blood vessels, on the other hand. This field is used as a basis for most medical malpractice claims in the dental field. Today, many resources are invested in pre-operative planning that is integrated and based on innovative imaging techniques, including the guidance of implants. Implant navigation systems are designed to integrate and replace the existing situation according to which the implanting doctor relies on the sense, guesswork and intuition used by him today.
Tactile Technologies was established in order to respond to the aforementioned medical need by combining technologies of bone mapping and wireless navigation using a tiny robot attached to the jaw at the implant site inside the mouth. The robot's sensors transmit to a small computer located in the doctor's room vital data regarding the implant site in the jaw, and illustrate on the screen the expected position of the implant relative to the anatomical structures into which it is inserted. In this way, it is possible to overcome the risks associated with implantation and at the same time allow the patient to receive a result that will be closest to natural teeth.
The method on which the development is based makes use of innovative technology based on inserting tiny pins into the jaw, these are needles for sewing tiny blood vessels and eye tissue. The pins transmit to the computer topographical data of the surface structure of the jaw. The transmitted information is based on data entered into the computer using a CT photograph of the transplant site. "Tactile" technology will allow the implants to be inserted into the jaw with an accuracy of several hundred microns without causing damage to the tissues, without cutting the gums and lifting them, in the optimal position, while making maximum use of the volume of the existing bone and its shape, and while avoiding damage to sensitive anatomical structures.
Dr. Tzvika Slovin, CEO of Tactile Technologies stated that "Tactile's ILS system meets a real need in the dental market and brings to it a disposable medical robot at a low price that is adapted to market requirements." Dr. Slovin added that "the new system will allow general dentists and novice doctors who until now were afraid of performing the complex surgery and the risks involved to perform implants under conditions of maximum caution, a factor that will have a positive effect on the level of safety, and a moderating effect on the prices of existing implants."
The advantage of the new development is the possibility to use a tiny device that is attached to the jaw and receive imaging and guidance of implants in real time; The device produces accurate data that is transmitted before and during the transplant to a personal computer located nearby. According to the estimates of Tactile managers, the duration of the entire process will end in a few minutes. The ILS system allows up to 4 implants to be implanted at the same time.
The company's research and development center is located in Kiryat Mada' in Rehovot. The company employs 15 people. The company intends to use the capital raised to further develop the product and obtain FDA approvals in the coming year.
