Lehman Bloom, Managing Director of iM3 answers our five questions about how it all started and what iM3 does best.
1. How did iM3 start?
Some 38 years ago Philip Bloom, who started Cenvet, a Veterinary wholesaler, manufactured and sold the Stephens anaesthetic machine. While in the USA, he demonstrated the Stephens to a veterinary company that was responsible for the new anaesthetic Isoflurane. A veterinary distributor saw the demonstration and thought the machine and the new anaesthetic agent would be ideal for veterinary dentistry.
Philip then started to import US-manufactured dental units but as there were no 240v quiet compressors available, he decided to build his own.
The US dental machines were not up to his expectations so he designed and built his own dental unit. A veterinarian friend of his in the USA liked the name Cenvet and registered it so Philip decided a new name was necessary, hence iM3.
iM3 opened an office in Vancouver Washington because four of the major dental companies were in Portland Oregon where he originally sourced many parts for his new machines.
Today iM3 USA has ten employees and builds machines for Canada, USA, Hawaii, Japan and South America. iM3 Australia has nine employees and builds for the rest of the world. December 2013 saw the IM3 office open in Ireland with six employees to serve the UK, Europe and of course Ireland and has now commenced building machines there.
All iM3 offices have teaching facilities available free of charge to members of the veterinary profession to teach anything associated with veterinary dentistry.
2. What is it that iM3 does best?
iM3 builds well-designed dental machines which are easily serviced all over the world and I hope it’s our pride in what we do that is recognised by Veterinarians. We design all of our equipment; we build all of our machines and do wet labs all over the world with members of the profession. Because we design, build and help teach veterinary dentistry, we know every inch of every item we sell.
Simply what we do best is to answer and solve problems.
3. What are some of the toughest challenges you think veterinary practices face today?
The toughest challenge facing the veterinary profession in the USA and Australia is over graduation. Veterinary dentistry is the only avenue that is still largely uncatered for by the profession. This is demonstrated by asking a small animal veterinarian how many dentals they do per day. 80% of small animals two years of age and over have some form of periodontal disease so most small animal vets should do 1 dental per day.
Another challenge is the inroads being made by the over-the-counter and online industries where the price is paramount.
4. How can iM3 help practice owners?
We try to help practice owners through a better understanding of ways and means to increase their client’s awareness of the importance of veterinary dentistry on the health of the pet and through our Goldmine DVD that shows that by reducing some prices will in fact lead to increased work, improved turnover and more happy pets and owners. These DVD’s are free to the veterinarian upon request.
5. How can iM3 help team members in a practice?
Our focus is on education; our support of those teaching veterinary dentistry will ensure that members of the profession will always be shown the best equipment and receive the best service as they are our best advertisement for what we do.
Feel free to ask Lehman any questions you may have about veterinary dentistry in the comments section below.
