Dentsply Sirona and Zephyr Sleep Technologies announce strategic partnership

Sleep-related breathing disorders, which include obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), affect as much as 20 percent of the North American population. Oral appliances are a well-known and often preferred treatment option for patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. Oral appliances only treat about 60 percent of OSA cases – and the challenge is selecting which patients will respond to the treatment. With Zephyr’s MATRx Plus system, testing to determine treatment response happens before undergoing an expensive, time-consuming process. Zephyr’s MATRx Plus is a home-based, patient-centric and easy-to-use system. Use of the MATRx Plus reportedly offers significant benefit to both the patient and the dentist by allowing a sleep physician to confidently prescribe treatment for OSA.

With the introduction of MATRx Plus to the dental market, Dentsply Sirona, Inc., and Zephyr start their cooperation. The goal is to bring together their experience in providing technologies and applications for OSA treatments. In conjunction with its investment, Dentsply Sirona has appointed Dr. Stefan Hehn, vice president Imaging Systems, to Zephyr’s board of directors to spearhead the cooperation.

“I’m excited to work closely with the Zephyr team to integrate existing Dentsply Sirona products and technology with the MATRx and MATRx Plus to make a better, safer and faster dental solution to treat OSA. This will not only make dentists more productive, but also significantly enhance the patient experience,” Dr. Hehn states.

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Greg Ogrodnick, Zephyr’s board chairman, says, “We are pleased to have Dr. Hehn join our board of independent corporate directors. Dr. Hehn not only brings a wealth of experience, but he also has a track record of successfully bringing new technologies and applications to the dental market."

“Bringing on Dentsply Sirona as both an investor and strategic partner opens up a whole new world of opportunity. A significant challenge to any emerging technology company is building a path to market, and by partnering with a company of Dentsply Sirona’s stature it increases credibility with our customers and provides an established and extensive network to create, build and deliver the best treatments possible for sleep-related breathing disorders,” says Paul Cataford, Zephyr’s chief executive officer. “We are now one step closer to helping more people lead healthy and productive lives through better sleep.” MATRx Plus is cleared in the US for diagnostic indications and approved in Canada for both diagnostic and theragnostic indications.

With SICAT Air, Dentsply Sirona offers the first 3D solution that enables the analysis of the upper airways in the 3D volume and illustrates the workflow of an appliance-based treatment completely digitally through the combination of 3D imaging systems like Galileos and selected Orthophos SL 3D units, digital impressions of the CEREC Omnicam and the SICAT Air software. With this workflow, dental practitioners reportedly can quickly and easily order mandibular advancement appliances like OPTISLEEP by SICAT that reduce or alleviate the symptoms of mild to moderate OSA.