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DENTAL

PRODUCTS

REPORT.COM

  

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  December 2014

PEOPLE

 

behind the SCeneS

Glen Freeman had a big year as Chief Product Offcer 

for E4D Technologies. The release of PlanScan’s chair 

integrated intraoral scanner opened many new doors 

for his company’s product development team. From 

treatment planning to 2D and 3D integration as well 

as other new specialty applications, it’s an exciting 

place to be for the product development veteran. 

“We have plans to continue to integrate even more 

solutions,” he said. 

PlanScan incorporates into the clinician’s digital 

Planmeca treatment center. With the new chairside 

integrated full HD tablet, doctors have constant 

access to real-time, accurate scanning and a wireless 

foot control for hands-free operation. The plug-and-

play Planscan scanner allows effortless collaboration 

between different users in different rooms. The sys-

tem’s fexibility also allows for multiple users to use 

the system simultaneously throughout the workfow.

“For the frst time they have the option to scan 

chairside and have everything at their fngertips,” 

Freeman said. “It gives the dentist confidence to 

know what is happening in his or her practice at any 

given time.” 

Freeman also manages the Support on Site (SOS) 

clinical support group for the PlanScan CAD/CAM 

system. SOS is a key competitive differentiator, 

providing remote customer support from hard-

ware, software, clinical and hardware experts at 

E4D Technologies. In particular, SOS’s ability 

to remote directly into the system often delights 

customers with ED4’s ability to help them resolve 

issues quickly.

“We can collaborate with them. It’s not just help; 

it’s collaboration with just about anything they do 

in the offce,” he explained.

In addition, the SOS support feature enables him 

to prioritize the product improvements for the sys-

tem. In this way, he feels his job is unique.

“Not only can you help the doctor but you are 

also able to see what they are struggling with,” 

Freeman explained. “I can see how our users are 

using the system and get their feedback immedi-

ately to integrate with new iterations of the prod-

uct in the future.”

Freeman moves the company’s departments 

through the product development process, from the 

“dream” stage to production. Freeman’s experience 

in product development and support for the past 10 

years has taught him the secret to success. 

“It’s a recipe. There isn’t any one thing,” he said. 

“Talk to your customers, monitor your product, 

keep a good handle on all aspects (training, mar-

keting, support and sales) to make sure the experi-

ence your customers are getting is real and not just 

perceived.” 

Freeman takes pride in helping his customers 

take their practice to a new level of productivity and 

patient care. He feels a sense of satisfaction in how 

his system indirectly improves the lives of patients. 

“I love seeing how our PlanScan system helps 

our doctors transform their patients’ lives,” he 

said. “They come in with a sore tooth and walk 

out with a crown, or maybe even a whole new smile. 

Their whole life is transformed because of what 

our product can do in the hands of our doctors.”  

by Terri Lively

E4D Technologies -  

Planmeca CAD/CAM Solutions 

Glen Freeman 

PlanScan

Even as a little boy, Erik Brown showed signs of 

becoming the engineer he is now. He was obsessed 

with anything mechanical, especially remote control 

cars and airplanes. 

There was just one problem with this obsession: 

His curiosity about how those things operated often 

meant taking them apart, which is the frst thing he 

did when his parents bought him a Sony Walkman. 

“I’m sure they spent a lot of money on it, but I just 

wanted the little motor inside to fddle with,” Brown 

said. “I’ve always loved to tinker with things, build 

things and take things apart. It’s my passion to build 

and innovate and create new technologies.”

Brown has moved on from toys, and into designing 

innovative dental products with Axis | SybronEndo. 

One such example he helped create is a frst-of-its-

kind cordless obturation system, called elementsfree. 

The hand-held device blends all of the best technology 

available in an ergonomic, functional package.

As the design engineering manager, Brown began 

developing elementsfree with the idea of creating a 

cordless system that met or exceeded the contempo-

rary state-of-the-art offerings. 

“Some of the things out there are a mess ergo-

nomically — they were poorly weighted, or the but-

tons were in the wrong positions,” Brown said. “We 

really spent a lot of time on the ergonomics and the 

human factor to make sure it would work well in a 

majority of clinicians’ hands.”

To illustrate the lengths he and the development 

team went to, Brown said they needed to reassess an 

early assumption they made that clinicians would 

hold and use the instrument like a pen. They came to 

that conclusion from watching people picking up the 

device at trade shows. 

But when they did feld research, they discovered 

their assumption was wrong. Dentists were holding 

the device a number of ways because of where they 

sit for the procedures. Basically, they learned every 

clinician has their own way of using the devices.

“That presented some interesting challenges to us 

in terms of designing the buttons and layout, and 

weighting it properly so it would be comfortable in 

most clinicians’ hands,” Brown said. “I don’t know 

how many different iterations we went through, but 

it was a lot so we could make sure everything worked 

for both endodonists and general dentists.”

As proud as he is for getting the ergonomics right, 

Brown said he’s proudest of creating the high perfor-

mance insulation that surrounds the heating element 

on the distal end that comes in contact with a patient’s 

mouth. The high performance insulation replaces the 

need for the single-use heat shields that are the typi-

cal approach for dealing with a device’s excessive 

temperatures (up to 200 degrees Celsius). 

“We wanted to integrate that heat shield material 

into the distal end so that exterior surface will always 

stay relatively cool,” Brown said. “That’s kind of a 

techie detail that I was probably proud of the most.”  

               

                                                                          by Paul LaTour

Photos courtesy of E4D Technologies (top) and Axis | SybronEndo (bottom).

Axis | SybronEndo  

Erik Brown

elementsfree obturation system

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