Some dentists spend their careers placing implants but wishing for better solutions. Leo Malin, DDS, founder of Implant Logistics, put his thoughts into positive action early in his practice, with a dedication to designing an implant that gets it right. His unique perspective on implant dentistry led to his lifetime quest to manufacture implants that would support long-term bone and tissue health and placement control in a cost-effective way, and to tackle historic challenges of the process.
Lou Shuman, DMD, CAGS (LS): How did you get interested in implants?
Leo Malin, DDS, (LM): In the early 1990s I graduated from dental school and bought a clinical practice from a retiring dentist who had a lot of ortho and implant patients in mid-treatment. I took a lot of courses in both ortho and implants, and created a 13-chair practice. In 2008, I sold my second general practice and focused only on implants. Over the next 5 years, I noticed a lot of bone loss happening around implants and wanted to find out more about the cause. Of course it's multifactorial, but I realized that the implant abutment connection was extremely important. At the time, some implants called Ankylos from Dentsply in Germany had a tighter connection and better clinical results than most implants in the North American market. I contacted Dentsply and told them they had a great implant, and I had a few suggestions for improvement. But when they indicated that they didn’t want my advice, I decided to create my own implant, which became the first iteration of Implant One. I hired an engineer, and we soon found out that prototyping was pretty expensive. So we bought our first machine, started the implant company, and added machines as the years went on. At the time, we had to learn about all the FDA rules, compliance issues, and other processes. It was an interesting ride bringing us to where we are today.
LS: Tell me about how you were on the forefront of mobile CBCT technology?
LM: With my engineer partner, Tom Arendt (who is now retired), I was in on guided surgery very early, at first using a tomographic machine to create an adjustable guide. Then, when CBCT machines became available, and I had two in my office, I realized the value of 3D imaging. I put two CT machines on mobile trucks and drove around the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota. I was one of the first people to do that. After that, I started a treatment planning company with two lab technicians in Marshfield, Wisconsin to help doctors with their treatment planning and guided surgery. So that helped us grow the implant company as well. I sold that partnership about nine years after. So it's been a long journey of embracing technology.
LS: What were the improvements you wanted in earlier implants?
LM: While the Ankylos had a tapered connection, it had no orientation, so the abutment could be put into the implant in 360 different degrees. I knew that would be a challenge in the US market. Also, it only had one-connection geometry, and that was fine for smaller diameter implants, smaller teeth, but in the molars, that created a fracture issue because there wasn't enough titanium in the connection. So the two things that I wanted to fix were the orientation of the abutment and creating a bulkier connection for the bigger molar teeth.
LS: What happened next?
LM: We researched implant design for a couple of years and created a prototype testing their biocompatibility and all the other details that have to be considered before introducing an implant in the market. I started Implant Logistics in 2009. We debuted the implant at Las Vegas Institute. When I was first teaching the course, I taught with the Zimmer, BioHorizons, and Ankylos implants. When my implant was ready to be launched, we started teaching with the Implant One. Since then, most of the company growth came from the courses that I've taught, both there and here in my office, Grand River Dental in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
LS: How does the implant benefit dentists just starting out in implants?
LM: We have a really good product that can be used in almost any clinical situation. It can be either digitally driven or analog driven, so if a doctor wants to do an analog restoration, we have all the component parts and pieces, and if it is digitally driven, there's no limitations to the system.
Probably the most important benefit a young dentist would have is me! I have the time to mentor young dentists, and that will impact their whole career. I really enjoy training because I know it's going to affect a lot of patients over the next 25 to 30 years. Besides the dentists starting out, the same applies to colleagues who are already placing a lot of implants.
We're a modern implant system. We got rid of a lot of the challenges with the standard old technology implants, and now, we don't have issues with bone loss, and we have a very strong implant system from a mechanical standpoint. We consider ourselves a value-based implant system.
LS: What are the most compelling attributes for choosing your implant?
LM: First it can be placed at crest or below. Most implant systems on the market today have to be placed at crest or above. Number two, it's very digitally driven, so there are no limitations if you use a digital protocol. As dentistry moves more into digital platforms, this will become increasingly more important. Number three, it's a value-based system, less expensive than most other systems. Number four is efficiency. The surgical protocol is well thought-out — the drill kit is very straightforward and makes sense.
Also very important is the issue of preventing peri-implant disease. Often the standard stackable-type implant has micromovement. Our connection is conical, but better than many of the other conical connections because there is no micromovement between our abutment and our implant. The connection does not allow the passage of fluids and bacteria from the oral cavity to the implant, preventing tissue inflammation. We made sure that that abutment connection is solid and strong in two different platforms.
The implants are versatile with two different thread patterns. The standard thread was designed for more dense bone, and the aggressive thread design was made mostly for patients who have poor bone density as well as for immediate extraction. We're trying to be as robust in the clinical setting as we can be.
LS: What is the financial value of Implant One?
LM: Besides all of the clinical advantages of our system, a dentist can do a full arch case at less than $200 or $250 per site. Very few companies can do that.
LS: I haven’t seen much marketing about Implant Logistics. What’s the reason behind that?
LM: We have grown slowly and with purpose. I wanted to make sure we were robust and solid before we hit the market at a bigger level. Over the years, I estimate that I have placed about 20,000 or more of our implants. Our second iteration of implant has evolved in terms of thread design, connection, and component parts. We're a more robust system now than we were initially.
LS: Tell us about your medical manufacturing company.
LM: AMS Micromedical has progressed over the past 10 years, with more capabilities now in terms of making custom abutments and bringing in libraries from doctors’ offices. We make implants as well as other products like orthopedic bone screws, heart catheters, and other medical component parts. We have about 20 milling machines now.
LS: Do you offer courses?
LM: I have a teaching center here in Wisconsin that will soon start offering courses. We offered programs in the Dominican Republic for several years that stopped when Covid hit, and we're planning to start that up again this year. My goal is to increase the number of doctors teaching our implant system. Most of implant dentistry grows through education so I am looking forward to that being a key component to our future growth.
LS: Where do you see the company in five years?
LM: I want to continue to follow the research and development of all of our products and stay on the forefront of technology and innovation, because I don't think we should ever be done innovating to develop something better or stronger. At the end of the day, the patient is most important. We have a really good product that solves problems specific to implants, so we just need to let people know that we exist and then concentrate on training.
