Every Monday, we present to you a company that is innovating.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
L’innovation
Transforming the main tool of dentists and dental hygienists for over a century, the dental mirror, into a “smart mirror” that can transmit images via WiFi, notably equipped with a camera and a lamp. This small feat of miniaturization made up of 55 parts weighs only 32 grams and can withstand temperatures of 120 degrees Celsius.
Who ?
The idea was born in 2014 in the mind of a dentist from La Prairie, Claude Chamoun, who had been practicing for eight years at the time. It is simple: how to add useful technology to a precious instrument, the dental mirror, which has hardly changed for 130 years?
In February 2021, Fadi Khoury, a graduate of HEC Montréal in administration and international trade, became the director of the clinic. He suggests that Mr. Chamoun recruit his cousin, Peter Khoury, an industrial designer. He contacted his brother David, a luxury construction entrepreneur, who joined the adventure which became a family in July 2021.
“It was a decision of a few seconds, I jumped into the adventure with both feet,” says David, today vice-president of marketing for Halo Dental.
After three years of development, the intelligent mirror prototype was presented last February at the Midwinter Meeting in Chicago, an annual meeting of the dental industry, where it wowed the participants. Claude Chamoun officially has the title of head of clinical services, Fadi that of director of information systems (CIO, in English) and Peter, that of CEO. Halo Dental has a total of around ten employees in its offices at 6e floor of a building in Solar Uniquartier, opposite DIX30.
The product
On the hardware side, the digital mirror is an object covered in titanium, with a small round mirror and a camera at its end. Its base unscrews and contains a rechargeable battery with a battery life of half an hour.
The Halo digital mirror automatically turns on when inserted into the patient’s mouth, sending diffused light and activating a heating element that dissipates fog. On the software side, the camera sends a live video that the patient and professional can watch. The professional can, by voice command sent to the tablet or computer, request a photo taken annotated with the tooth code and comments.
“We can better educate the patient, but we can also document much more easily,” explains David Khoury
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The Halo Digital Mirror was designed to fit naturally into the professional’s workflow.
The Halo Digital Mirror was designed to fit naturally into the professional’s workflow. The resistance up to 120 degrees Celsius is so that it can be sterilized in the autoclave already used in surgeries. Its weight of 32 grams is practically the same as that of a classic dental mirror. The price announced on the Halo Dental website is US$2,500, which includes the digital mirror, two spare batteries with their charging base and the application.
The challenges
Combining 55 components in a 32 gram device that is intuitive, durable, resistant to high temperatures while remaining relatively affordable was, as one might imagine, the great technological challenge of the Halo digital mirror.
The question of thermal resistance, in particular, was quite a headache. “We initially opted for another sterilization technique,” explains David Khoury. We wanted to build a boat and we redesigned everything. We finally built a submarine. »
“Titanium, which has the weight of aluminum and the strength of steel, is to compensate for the weight of the electronics,” explains his brother Peter.
Finding financing for such a sophisticated device, which meets a need that only dentists understand, has imposed a limit on finding investors.
“Most of the people who invested in this project are dentists, people who are in the medical field, some doctors as well,” explains David Khoury.
The future
The next step will be to allow dozens of dentists in Quebec to work with the digital mirror.
Subsequently, tests will be carried out to move on to large-scale production. “The first production tests are coming soon,” announces Peter Khoury. There are still a few certification tests to take, all of which will be done in 2025.”
The big launch, availability on the market, “it’s the end of 2025, the beginning of 2026 to have a product ready to deliver, both in terms of hardware and software,” specifies the CEO.
