The Hahn™ Tapered Implant: 45 years in the making

An inside look at the history of an innovative implant that makes treatment simpler and more predictable

Since placing his first implant nearly 45 years ago, Dr. Jack Hahn has spent much of his career as an implantologist thinking of ways to make treatment more accessible to the practitioner as well as the patient. From the early blade-form implants he helped develop in the late 1970s to the newly released Hahn™ Tapered Implant, Dr. Hahn’s efforts have been driven by the desire to continually improve in order to make treatment simpler and more predictable.

“The easier we make it to position the implant for a restoration that looks like a natural tooth, the better results we’ll have,” noted Dr. Hahn in a recent interview. It was this line of thinking that inspired Dr. Hahn’s idea for the first tapered implant. After a long day that included several cases in which he had difficulty placing parallel-walled implants in the anatomically restricted space of the anterior maxilla, Dr. Hahn had an epiphany: “The tooth I was replacing was taper-shaped, so why was I putting in a square peg?” That very night, he sketched out the concept.

Steve Hurson, former chief scientist for Nobel Biocare, has said of this industry-changing innovation: “Dr. Hahn identified a need for an implant with a narrower apex, which would achieve higher primary stability in soft bone. The concept was to have an implant design that would have the tapered shape of a tooth root … resulting in a system with outstanding predictability.”

Nearly twenty years later, Dr. Hahn’s vast experience with placing and restoring implants afforded clinical observations that would serve as the basis for a new implant design that he considers his best. “I had this implant that would be easier for doctors to place, with a simpler drilling protocol and a thread design that would allow for efficient placement and a high degree of primary stability.”

To take his design concept to the next level, Dr. Hahn’s efforts eventually led him to the implant manufacturing division of Glidewell Laboratories, where he reunited with some of the same engineering personnel with whom he had successfully collaborated in the past. In owner Jim Glidewell, he found an individual equally committed to enhancing the quality of treatment while reducing the cost of care, with the ultimate goal of expanding the availability of implant therapy to more patients.

This partnership culminated in the recent launch of the Hahn Tapered Implant System, and Dr. Hahn couldn’t be happier with the results. “When I first visited their facilities, it was immediately apparent that their manufacturing capabilities are state-of-the-art. Their engineering team is superb, and their expertise on the prosthetic side of implant dentistry has been invaluable in creating an implant that is as simple to restore as it is to place.”

With a career that speaks volumes on the importance of continual innovation, Dr. Hahn is proud to have his name on an implant that contributes to the forward progression of implant dentistry. “The better we make implant design, the more accessible we can make implant dentistry to doctors, so they can improve their practices and the quality of life of their patients.”

Visit HahnImplant.com for information.

Hahn™ Tapered Implant is a trademark of Glidewell Laboratories.
This information was provided by Glidewell Laboratories.