By: Dr. Louis H. Berman
Why would an endodontist want to start a dental instrument company? Well, you must first understand how endodontists think. As the specialty with one of the lowest overheads, we instinctively watch every penny we spend. And, purchasing dental instruments became one of my biggest frustrations when buying supplies. Seriously, do rubber dam clamps really have to cost more than $20 each? And do curettes and scalers really have to cost more than $40 each? Something just did not add up, other than my office expenses.
Finding the best instruments
I also began to wonder why I like certain dental instruments over others. It became clear that instrument design, feel, weight, and balance were big issues, along with stain and rust resistance when autoclaved. With that in mind, I worked with a board of quality-minded dentists over a two-year period to vet more than 40 different manufacturers. The goal was to find the best quality instruments made from the finest stainless steel.
Collectively, we determined that French and Italian stainless steel offered everything we were looking for. These instruments had the ability to hold their sharpness the longest and also demonstrated the best resistance to pitting, rusting or discoloration after hundreds of autoclave cycles.
Most impressive, we found we could sell these awesome instruments for more than 50% LESS than other fine instruments on the market. We wanted to offer these instruments without selling them through one of the many dental dealers, which was a challenge we were able to overcome. Dealers take about 40% of the gross price of the products they sell. By skipping the dealer we can offer high-quality, low-cost instruments directly to dentists.
Getting started
As dentists creating a new dental instrument company, we had the opportunity to put some unique features into our instruments. For example, we wanted black rubber dam clamps so they would be non-reflective to the lights on a surgical operating microscope or loupes. Our rubber dam forceps feature an extended beak for reaching those second molars. The handles on our curettes and scalers are 9 mm in diameter, the size most dental hygienists prefer for maximum comfort and torque.
After designing and building our inventory, we knew we had something dentistry had never seen before. We were offering stunning rubber dam clamps for less than $5 and awesome curettes and scalers for less than $10. We were dentists, designing dental instruments for dentists, using premium quality steel, superb design, and unbelievable pricing. Extraction forceps for less than $33 and elevators for less than $11were unheard of. Now, dentists can purchase these instruments directly from Berman Instruments with no middle-man dealer to over-inflate our pricing.
Finally, after almost two years of building Berman Instruments from scratch, we opened our online store in June 2018 and began an email marketing campaign. To our surprise, a third of our inventory sold out in just two weeks. We had to quickly regroup and expand our inventory to satisfy our demand for sales, which was an awesome problem to have! And we have been growing and expanding ever since to easily satisfy the demand for our products.
After 35 years of private practice, I am finally able to curb one of my biggest expenses. Although I can’t do anything about being ripped off for decades and overpaying for dental instruments, I now have access to outstanding savings and can pass these saving on to my dental colleagues.
A different kind of dental instrument company
Berman Instruments represents a new era of purchasing dental instruments. We offer our products that cost significantly less than other premium instruments, while allowing you to buy directly from us and not through your dental dealer. We are dentists serving dentists. Learn more about us and the instruments we offer at BermanInstruments.com.
