If you have visited this site before, you probably realize I love North Carolina.  And, I really enjoy it when I have the opportunity to feature a North Carolina company in my 5 Questions With… series.  This month I am very pleased to be joined by a new dental products manufacturer from Research Triangle Park, NC, Anutra Medical.  Cameron Perkins, President of Anutra Medical, was kind enough to share his thoughts on dentistry, his company, and their mission to make dental procedures more comfortable for patients and more predictable for practitioners.  I hope you enjoy meeting Cameron and Anutra as much as I did.

Michael Dunn:  Tell us about Anutra Medical. What product(s) do you offer?

Cameron Perkins:  With a passion for buffering local anesthetics, Dr. Daniel Davidian, DDS, set out to create a product with an equal focus on enhancing a patient’s experience and increasing office efficiency. The idea of buffering has been around in medicine for decades. His passion for buffering was spurred on by his father who was a respected anesthesiologist. In the late 1990s, Dr. Davidian began his quest to simplify buffering so all healthcare providers could integrate the practice into their daily patient care. In 2013, he founded Anutra Medical. In February 2014, Anutra launched it’s Anutra Local Anesthetic Delivery System. The system consists of the Anutra Dispenser®, Anutra Cassette®, and Anutra Feedback Aspiration Syringe®. This system transforms the way local anesthetic has been delivered.

Anutra Dispenser

Anutra Feedback Aspiration Syringe

MD:  How did you become involved with Anutra?  What was your “a-ha” moment?

CP:  As Dr. Davidian says, “I believe that buffering local anesthetics is a best practice for all dentists. It not only provides a more comfortable experience for the patient, it also creates a more predictable and reliable anesthetic effect, resulting in improved efficiency for the practitioner.”

For me, when I was asked to be President of Anutra Medical, it was a no-brainer. Having a medical background, I saw the immense benefit for practitioners as well as the patient. It is rare that you see such a revolutionary product that equally benefits both the clinician and the patient.

MD:  What makes Anutra’s product line unique compared to similar products?

CP:  Having used various buffering methods for quite some time, Dr. Davidian seized the opportunity to create a revolutionary product that simplified buffering and local anesthetic delivery for all practitioners. As we worked through the R&D process, we sought to create a product that overcame some obstacles Dr. Davidian had faced while buffering in his own practice. Some of the greatest advancements I’m most excited about include precisely buffering anesthetic with the twist of a knob, making buffering cost-effective for everyone, an increased 4 day shelf-life on the product, and, most impressive, a multi-dose feedback aspiration syringe.

MD:  What trends do you think will have the biggest impact on the dental industry in the next 5 – 10 years?

CP:  I truly believe that buffering local anesthetics will continue to be a hot topic in the dental industry in the coming years. Even being at CDA Anaheim in May, I saw the great deal of buzz surrounding buffering, beyond our product. It will be great to see dentists really embrace buffering.  Buffering truly could revolutionize the industry both for patients and practices.

MD:  What’s next for you and Anutra?  What can we look forward to?

CP:  At Anutra, we believe that a patient’s experience and a practitioner’s efficiency are closely linked. It is our goal, both with our current product offerings and with any future offerings, to bring to the market products that meet both of those criteria. So far, we have accomplished this with providing the Anutra Local Anesthetic Delivery System® to simplify buffering. The Anutra Feedback Aspiration Syringe® is also a major advancement allowing bulk delivery of local anesthetic for practitioners as well as providing a less intimidating syringe for patients. We will continue to innovate and create solutions that revolutionize the dental industry as we focus on helping practitioners provide better patient care.

A big Thank You to Cameron Perkins and the team at Anutra Medical for participating in 5 Questions With…  If you have questions of your own or would like more information on the product or company, please contact them directly.  And thank you for reading.