Our Story
Awarded by GHP in the Oral Health and Dentistry Awards as the Most Innovative Custom-Made Crown & Onlay Laboratory Service 2019, Rhondium Dental Laboratories is proud to provide a service that pushes the boundaries of modern dentistry, and paves the way to create better clinical outcomes for patients. Our mission is to make high-quality dental crown and onlay procedures affordable to all patients.
With innovation at our core, Rhondium works closely with dentist customers and key opinion leaders in the industry to constantly refine and improve the OVC solution and clinical procedure.
First launched in New Zealand in 2014 by Dr Simon McDonald, the OVC has come a long way over the years, with each iteration developed to improve the overall experience for dentists. Headquartered in New Zealand, Rhondium Dental Laboratories entered the United Kingdom and Europe in 2016 and Australia in 2017.
OVC4 is the only custom-made crown, that is prepared and placed in a single visit, without the need for expensive CAD/CAM machinery. It has been highly praised for its minimally invasive characteristics.
The key conceptual difference between the OVC4 and regular crown procedures is that OVC4 is made from a “study-model” type of impression. The impression is taken of the tooth PRIOR to any tooth preparation. This is normally during the patient’s consultation appointment. The custom-made OVC4 uses a unique technology with a heat-cured occlusal layer and an uncured sub-layer that adapts to the tooth prep. This technology is what makes it all possible.
It is the OVC’s efficiency that enables dentists to offer it as a mid-priced, minimally invasive crown option.
Dr Simon McDonald is no stranger to inventing breakthrough products, one of his most notable previous inventions includes the V3 Sectional Matrix System, used for class two composite restorations. This is now sold by Dentsply Sirona.
Dr McDonald says; “It’s about doing things differently, and better. Our mission is to dramatically transform how dentists work, to create better results for both patients and dentists by making dental treatments more accessible and affordable. Through using the latest technology and applying very clever thinking, we can provide simple yet highly effective and innovative products.”
A recent testimonial by customer Dr Ben Malabanan Jr sums it up quite nicely.
In his words: “this product will change restorative dentistry in a way no other product has done since I graduated dental school in 1989.”
Rhondium Board of Directors
Dr Simon McDonald
Executive Director and OVC Inventor
BDS, MSc, DDPH RCS
Dr Simon McDonald is a serial inventor and entrepreneur as well as a successful dentist. His achievements include being the founder and CEO of Triodent (2003), which was later sold to Dentsply in 2013. He is also the founder and CEO of Rhondium (2013). Simon received his BDS in 1978 and an MSc in 1983. He is the author of one of the first papers on the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (1983) and has also published papers on worldwide patterns of caries.
Some of Dr McDonald’s most notable inventions include:
- The One Visit Crown
- McDonald Matrix Band
- V, V3 and V4 Rings
- Stretch Wedge, V Wedge, Wave Wedge and V4 Wedge
- WedgeGuard
- Tab Matrix Band, V3 Tab Matrix Band, SuperCurve Matrix Band, ClearMetal Matrix Band
- Tri-Clip
- Griptab
Dr McDonald also has philanthropic interests and was a primary founder of Hawaiki Rising Voyaging Trust whose aim is to help young Maori/Polynesian teenagers find a connection with their proud sailing heritage and become strong resilient leaders. His other interests include a large family (8 children), kiteboarding and skippering his offshore yacht.
Mr Yashen Jones
Director Rhondium Group
Yashen has over 30 years’ experience in senior finance positions in both New Zealand and the UK, and holds a B.Sc in Mathematics, with First Class Honours. Yashen is involved, mostly at a Board level, in the financial and legal challenges of Rhondium. He was General Manager for Triodent from 2011 to 2013, as well as Finance Director with Triodent from 2007 to 2013 and a key member of the team which carried out the successful sale of the Triodent business to Dentsply International. Yashen was a significant player in Triodent’s successful transition from a small local company to a fully-fledged manufacturer with over 100 employees and annual sales of around $20m pa.
Mr Andrew Mitchell
Director Rhondium Group
Andrew has spent twenty years in marketing communications as an award-winning copywriter, creative director and strategist for various leading advertising agencies. His passion is business to business communications and marketing, and his deep experience in this area sees him bring a fresh and valuable strategic voice to the Rhondium board. Andrew is also the founder and director of Brand Machine, a marketing technology client that brings world-class marketing automation technology to many leading Asia Pacific brands.
Mr Scott Hamilton
Director Rhondium Group
Scott brings a banking background, with 10 years’ experience in senior funds management roles in New Zealand and England. Scott has also held commercial finance roles, including mergers, acquisition, and exit with Onesource Limited. Scott is CEO of Quayside Holdings Limited, the $1.7bn investment arm of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, a role held since 2010. He is a director of OPAC Limited and Rhondium Limited. Scott is a Chartered Accountant with the ICAANZ, and a member of the Institute of Directors.
Clinical Advisors
Dr Simon McDonald
Dr Simon McDonald is a serial inventor and entrepreneur as well as a successful dentist. His achievements include being the founder and CEO of Triodent (2003), which was later sold to Dentsply in 2013. He is also the founder and CEO of Rhondium (2013). Simon received his BDS in 1978 and an MSc in 1983. He is the author of one of the first papers on the Atraumatic Restorative Treatment (1983) and has also published papers on worldwide patterns of caries.
Some of Dr McDonald’s most notable inventions include:
- The One Visit Crown
- McDonald Matrix Band
- V, V3 and V4 Rings
- Stretch Wedge, V Wedge, Wave Wedge and V4 Wedge
- WedgeGuard
- Tab Matrix Band, V3 Tab Matrix Band, SuperCurve Matrix Band, ClearMetal Matrix Band
- Tri-Clip
- Griptab
Dr McDonald also has philanthropic interests and was a primary founder of Hawaiki Rising Voyaging Trust whose aim is to help young Maori/Polynesian teenagers find a connection with their proud sailing heritage and become strong resilient leaders. His other interests include a large family (8 children), kiteboarding and skippering his offshore yacht.
Dr Adam Doudney
Dr Adam Doudney has over 20 years clinical experience and is a leading dentist at Lumino in New Zealand since 2007 as well as being part of the clinical advisory board for Lumino since 2014. He graduated from Otago University with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery and also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business. Dr Doudney has presented and published several articles on implants, as well as being a clinical adviser for Triodent and now for Rhondium. Dr Doudney lectures on One Visit Crowns in New Zealand and abroad.
Dr Graeme Milicich
Dr Milicich lectures internationally in the fields of minimal intervention, caries risk assessment and management of minimal intervention restorative techniques on the physics as well as clinical applications of hard-soft tissue lasers, and E4D CAD/CAM technology. He is a Fellow, Diplomate and Founding Board Member of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry (WCMID). He is also a Fellow, Master and Board Member of the World Clinical Laser Institute, and a Founding Board member and Honorary Lifetime Member of the NZ Institute of Minimal Intervention Dentistry. He is the recipient of both the WCMID Clinician of the Year Award and the WCMID Clinical Research Award.
Prof. Edward Lynch
PhD, Lond, MA, BDentSc, TCD, FDSRCSEd, FIADFE, FDSRCSLond, FASDA, FACD, Specialist in Endodontics, Specialist in Prosthodontics, Specialist in Restorative Dentistry
Professor Edward Lynch was a full-time academic in Dentistry at the University of Warwick, which is ranked the third behind only Oxford and Cambridge in the list of the UK’s best Universities. He was elected the most influential person in UK Dentistry in 2010 by his peers (Google dentistry top 50 2010) and has held the position of Professor of Restorative Dentistry and Gerodontology of the Queen’s University Belfast as well as Consultant in Restorative Dentistry to the Royal Hospitals from 2000 – 2010. He also served as the Consultant Editor of Gerodontology, as well as the Treasurer and Secretary to GORG, IADR and Editor of the GORG IADR newsletter. He has served as Senior Lecturer in Conservative Dentistry and Hon. Consultant in Restorative Dentistry and Postgraduate Course Organiser for the University of London where he was full-time for 20 years (1980 – 2000). He was awarded a total of 94 research grants, totalling around 5 million pounds and has more than 500 publications, including chapters in books and referred abstracts. During his career, Professor Edward Lynch has successfully supervised more than fifty MSc, MPhil and PhD students and he has been awarded many prizes for his research. He is also a specialist in 3 disciplines, Endodontics, Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry as well as being a BUPA Consultant in Oral Surgery and presents at many prestigious postgraduate courses worldwide each year.
He is a Consultant to the ADA, a spokesperson for the BDA, a Scientific board member of the International Health Care Foundation and ISBOR, is on the editorial board of numerous International Journals and has spent decades as very much a “wet gloved” academic treating many specialist referrals every week, previously in the Royal Victoria Hospital as well as in Saint Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospitals. He has edited the Quintessence book entitled “Ozone – The Revolution in Dentistry” ISBN 18-5097-08-82. He is also the Chairman of the European Experts group on Tooth Whitening and is actively seeking to change EU legislation to legalise Home Bleaching. He has presented to the EU parliament on 2 occasions on tooth whitening. In the past 12 years, his research team has been honoured ten times by being awarded first prizes at the annual meeting of the International Association for Dental Research including a 2012 IADR first prize for one of his MSc students Diarmuid Buckley in Warwick Dentistry. In addition in 2010 he has been elected the 2011 President of GORG in the International Association for Dental Research and in 2012 he has also been elected as the next President of the Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology (PTT) Research Groups in the International Association for Dental Research. In addition, Edward was elected to represent the Geriatric Oral Research Group on the Council of IADR from 2013 and he represented PTT on the IADR Council in 2012. He has also been elected as the Regent for Europe for the prestigious Fellowship of the Academy for Dento-Facial Esthetics.
He has also been accredited in October 2010 with the prestigious membership of The American Society for Dental Aesthetics and has been awarded the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award at the Dentistry Awards (Dentistry, 13 January 2011). On 16 Oct 2012 he was awarded the Fellowship of The American Society for Dental Aesthetics and is the first UK Dentist to ever achieve this prestigious Fellowship. On 10 Feb 2013 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Research and Teaching at the prestigious IAOHD Dentistry conference in Las Vegas.
Dr Michael Miyasaki
Dr. Michael A. Miyasaki is a 1987 graduate of the University of the Southern California School of Dentistry, and has always maintained a practice focusing on comprehensive, minimally-invasive aesthetic restorative dentistry and function. With over 2 decades of clinical and teaching experience, Dr. Miyasaki has established himself as a leading figure in the world of dentistry and continues to educate his peers and patients for the optimal patient experience. His numerous accolades are a testament of his dedication and Sacramento Magazine just announced Miyasaki Dental as a “Top Dentist” and “The Face of Lifetime Dental Health”.
Prof. Ian Meyers
BDSc, FICD, FADI, FPFA, FRACDS
Ian Meyers is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Dental Association (Queensland) and has honorary professorial positions with UQ and JCU. Ian is a general dental practitioner who has worked in both public and private dental clinics and has been involved with The University of Queensland for over two decades. He is a product consultant to a range of dental companies, a member of the International Association for Dental Research, Board member of the RACDS and the ICD, and a member of the editorial board of The Australian Dental Journal. His major interests include adhesive restorative dental materials, diagnosis and management of the worn dentition, geriatric and aged care dentistry, minimum intervention dentistry, and teaching and clinical development in general practice dentistry.
Dr Terry Wong
Dr. Terry Wong lectures internationally on the topic of restorative dentistry. Presently, Dr. Wong lectures at Melbourne University on the topic of Aesthetic Dentistry and conducts hands-on programs about free handed delivery of restorations. He attended the Las Vegas Institute and studied occlusion at the Kois Center in Seattle. He has been personally instructed by Dr. Newton Fahl of the Fahl School of Art and Science in Aesthetic Dentistry in Brazil. Dr. Wong obtained his degree at Melbourne University in 1987 and maintains a general practice in Melbourne with emphasis on restorative dentistry. He is a Key Opinion leader for DentsplySirona, 3M ESPE, Coltene, SDI, and Ivoclar Vivadent.
Dr John Flucke
Dr. Flucke is the Technology Editor & Chief Dental Editor of Dental Products Report Magazine, State of Missouri peer review chair, and clinical assistant professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Dentistry. He consults with many high-tech companies on materials, devices and clinical methodologies.
Dr George Freedman
DDS, FAACD, FACD, FADI, FADFE
Dr Freedman is the author or co-author of 12 textbooks, more than 700 dental articles, and numerous webinars, CDs, videos and audios and is a Team Member of REALITY. He has been listed as one of the leaders in Continuing Education by Dentistry Today every year since 1997. Dr Freedman is the Materials Editor for Dentistry Today, Editor in Chief for Dental Tribune International, and is on the Editorial Board of Oral Health and Dental Asia.
A Diplomate of the American Board of Aesthetic Dentistry, he lectures internationally on dental esthetics, adhesion, desensitization, composites, impression materials and porcelain veneers and has been a featured / keynote speaker at many major national and international dental conferences.
Dr Freedman maintains a private practice limited to Esthetic Dentistry in Toronto, Canada.
Dr Jan F. Thomsen
Jan Frydensberg Thomsen DDS graduated from the Royal Danish Dentist College in Copenhagen in 1986. After 10 years in private practice in Baden Württemberg near Stuttgart in Germany, he now practices in central Copenhagen. Dr Thomsen practices general dentistry with a focus on esthetic occlusal reconstructions with ceramics and composites. He is also Manager of Digital Solutions at the Futurum Clinic, Faculty of Odontology at the University of Malmö in Sweden.
Dr Thomsen participates in frequent international lectures and symposiums. He received his postgraduate education at the Dawson Center of Advanced Dentistry and the Seattle Institute of Advanced Dental Education (both in the USA). He has also been educated in Esthetic Composite restorations by Dr Lorenzo Vaninis in his private practice in Italy.
Dr Thomsen lectures internationally primarily in esthetic dentistry, prosthodontics and CAD/CAM technique with porcelain and in fibre-reinforcement of composite. He is currently Vice President of The Scandinavian Academy of Esthetic Dentistry.