Ultradent Products Inc. Celebrates 40th Anniversary
SOUTH JORDAN, UT– This year, Ultradent Products, Inc., a family-owned, international dental supply and manufacturing company, celebrates 40 years in the dental industry. Ultradent began as a family-run, grassroots small business that, throughout four decades, has become a worldwide leader in its field—known for its innovative dental products, rock-solid core values, and family-friendly, people-centered business culture.
Of this milestone, Dr. Dan Fischer, founder and CEO of Ultradent Products, says, “Looking back on the last 40 years, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for the sacrifice and hard work put in my so many people—whether it be my own family, our fabulous Ultradent employees, or the leaders in dentistry who championed us from the beginning and along the way in this wonderful endeavor. The time has truly flown by, and it’s amazing to look back on the progress we’ve made since our humble beginnings at the kitchen table of my home.” He adds, “I often say that companies are not made of concrete, glass, and steel. They’re made of people, and people serving people is what business is all about. I believe that is one of the key ingredients to Ultradent’s success over the last 40 years.”
Ultradent began 40 years ago with a simple idea by Dr. Fischer, then a young dentist who had recently graduated from Loma Linda University. He wanted to create a product that would act as a solution to a common problem dentists everywhere face—achieving predictable, rapid, and profound hemostasis in the mouth. He knew that if he could come up with a product that met that criteria, he would not only save dentists time and money by allowing them to work more efficiently, but that it would also allow dentists to produce higher quality, more accurate impressions.
Dr. Fischer began experimenting with different chemistries after-hours at his small dental practice in Salt Lake City, and by 1978, he had invented and patented Ultradent’s first product, Astringedent® hemostatic, a groundbreaking feat in tissue management. That same year, he founded Ultradent Products, Inc., as a vehicle to market and sell his invention.
Astringedent hemostatic’s wild success set the pace for a succession of products that today includes a wide range of innovative dental materials and equipment. In fact, since 1978, Ultradent Products has gone from one offering, Astringedent hemostatic, to offering over 1,600 dental products worldwide.
As business grew rapidly, Ultradent also expanded from its first headquarters, a 40-foot x 60-foot metal hay barn on Dr. Fischer’s property, to its South Jordan headquarters, which encompasses over 460,000 square feet. This doesn’t include its numerous offices and subsidiaries throughout the world in Asia, Australia, Europe, and South America.
Ultradent is also a proud USA-manufacturer. The company researches, designs, manufactures, packages, and ships 95% of what it sells in its South Jordan facility. It also exports 70% of its products beyond U.S. borders to over 100 countries throughout the world. Of this practice, Dr. Fischer says, “We believe in staying in touch with our products. The more one outsources, the more one delegates shipping, or production, or R&D to other parts of the world, the more one loses touch with what has made them who they are.”
Ultradent’s hallmark products include its expanded line of tissue management products, which still includes Astringedent hemostatic, and its world renowned, industry-leading line of tooth whitening products, Opalescence® Whitening Systems. Ultradent’s product family also includes the multiple-award winning VALO® and VALO® Grand curing lights, Ultra-Etch® etchant, and its recently introduced dual-wave soft tissue diode Gemini® laser.
Beyond the dental community, Ultradent supports and donates products to humanitarian efforts both locally, nationally, and internationally, including the Crown Council and Sealants for Smiles. Ultradent also founded and sponsors its own 501c3 non-profit organization, the Diversity Foundation, a progressive outreach program committed to preventing hate crimes and intolerance. The foundation is currently helping support over 50 students in their efforts to pursue higher education at the college and graduate level.