Guy Hiscott speaks to Cagatay Guler, vice president EMEA at Solventum, about its new innovations and how they are enabling better, smarter and safer healthcare.
The spin out of Solventum as a separate business from 3M took place just over a year ago, and on the back of events like IDS in Cologne and the Dentistry Show it feels as though there’s real momentum building behind that transition. What’s the feeling like in camp?
I get this question a lot, because I think the mood comes across to the other side of the table, and people are unsure if it’s real.
So I’m really not embellishing when I say it’s exhilarating. Our journey has been turbocharged – everything we’ve done has been very successful, and I think that builds the confidence that all of our team members are now exuding. There’s more of a sense of ownership now, and an excitement of taking a part in something historic – we have a clearer sense of purpose as a business now than ever before.
Remember, we knew we were going to spin Solventum out of 3M for some time, so while that officially happened a year ago, we started the process long before to make sure that we didn’t miss a step – that none of our customers felt any disruption to the technologies and solutions that they’ve come to depend on. I think we’ve achieved that.
We’re starting to see the pipeline of new innovations come through with the products you unveiled at IDS in Cologne – a new restorative material, a new fluoride varnish and the aligner attachment. Do you have a favourite?
That’s like asking a parent which of their children are their favourite! I love different aspects of each new product.
Our new 3M Clarity grip attachments digitise something that is supposed to have been digitised, but hasn’t until now. We’re only able to do this because we’re combining our knowledge of material sciences and digital sciences, and it’s a game changer.
But I also love 3M Filtek Easy Match because it’s not just an analogue product; it’s an adaptive analogue product. Think about it: it adapts to your teeth – you just select one of the three shades and volia, that’s it.
From a very different, and selfish perspective, I have a special love for 3M Clinpro Clear, our new fluoride treatment. I always hated getting fluoride treatments for my daughter, but Clinpro makes it easy for everyone, so it makes a big difference for me personally!
These products are all quite distinct but each one feels as though you’ve looked at the market, considered the pain points that clinicians have, and applied some lateral thinking to your R&D process. Is that indicative of the roadmap for Solventum going forwards?
Absolutely. Again, I always go back to our mission: enabling better, smarter, safer healthcare to improve lives. So anything that we do will have to meet that mission.
I think you would agree that all three of these things are improving lives, right?
Our recipe is clear, and we’re able to put our R&D resources towards this principle first and foremost. We talk to dentists, day in and day out. We observe their work. Sometimes, they may not even realises there’s a gap, or a problem – but we can see it, take it back, and work on trying to fix it or look at whether we have a technology that bridges that gap. I look at our pipeline and while we can’t make it public, I think it’s spot on at hitting those points.
Is there anything you can share about the release schedule?
I can’t divulge all the details but in broad terms, the new products announced recently are three of the technologies that we believe are game-changing in their fields: one in the restorative space, one in the preventive space, and the other in the alignment space.
What we’re working on is really giving the dentist the freedom to choose all of those solutions, depending on the patient needs, on one platform. We believe we’re the only company who can claim to go in that direction.
We will continue to invest in restorative materials, so you will see much more innovative composites coming through. We will continue to invest in our technologies that bridge or bring restorative solutions and combine them with other treatments.
And we’ll look at all these things from the perspective of the dentist: if they are delivering a treatment, what steps can we get engaged with, and help them make it happen under one umbrella?
You can call it procedure-based development. That’s what we’re working on: really developing products and solutions that are procedure-based, rather than single products.
It’s a holistic viewpoint. We’re a company with a long legacy of success – we have a legacy of 70 years of innovation, and we’re building on that now with a razor focus. 3M Healthcare is now Solventum, but we still own that legacy. We’re building on it to solve the challenges that matter to all our stakeholders.
Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
