Dental imaging technology company CALCIVIS® is setting its sights on US growth having secured pre-market approval (PMA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As the first Scottish medical device to secure the coveted accreditation, the CALCIVIS® Imaging System aims to revolutionise the dental sector by enabling the move to a more preventive treatment model.
PMA approval is only awarded after a statutory process of scientific review to ensure the efficacy and safety of medical devices. PMA accreditation will allow Edinburgh-based CALCIVIS® to tap into the multi-billion dollar US dental market.
The CALCIVIS® Imaging System allows dentists to visualise decay ‘live’ as it happens on patients’ teeth, providing crucial insight as to whether a caries lesion is likely to progress and requires treatment.
The imaging system applies a patented photoprotein which, in the presence of free calcium ions released from an actively decaying tooth surface, produces a very short, low level light flash. An integrated intra-oral sensor within the CALCIVIS® Imaging device immediately detects the luminescence (light flash) and presents clinicians with a chair-side demineralisation map.
Adam Christie, CEO at CALCIVIS®, said: “It’s been a long process with delays caused by Covid restrictions, so we’re very pleased to have achieved PMA status. We have an ambitious growth plan for the highly developed US dental market which, with our FDA accreditation, we can now capitalise on.
“We are building a team in America to take CALCIVIS® to market, and we’re ready to revolutionise patient care. Our technology can help shift the paradigm in dental healthcare from ‘drill and fill’ restorative dentistry to a more preventive approach.”
Since it was founded in 2012, CALCIVIS® has raised £16 million investment. Investors include Archangels, the world’s longest-running business angel investment syndicate, which has been involved with the company from the outset, and Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency.