The quest for the perfect bur
Tri Hawk’s vision is simple and clear: to be the standard by which all other burs are judged.
This is no small statement particularly in a world driven by sales and profits. Tri Hawk puts the quality of its product above all else and truly believes that quality, low breakage rates and the highest cutting efficiency in the dental industry, will drive the profits and sales.
The Quality Ideal is upheld by innovative research and dedicated personnel. As a result, Tri Hawk produces burs that have breakage rates many times lower than the industry average and specialty burs like the Talon™ line that have unsurpassed cutting speeds through a plethora of materials.
It all began…
…in 1969, when Tri Hawk was founded by Gustel Fischer to import and distribute dental burs. After several years of speaking with hundreds of dental practitioners, Gustel decided that our customers deserved a bur that better met their needs for cutting speed, strength and safety.
In 1986 the first Tri Hawk’s plant opened in Cornwall, Ontario. Just four years later, rising demand necessitated an expansion, and we moved to a larger plant in Morrisburg, Ontario, where we remain to this day. We have had to expand several times over the last few decades including most recently increasing the size of our plant by 30% in 2015.
Continuous improvement
Ever since Gustel converted Tri Hawk from a distribution to a manufacturing company, we have been on a never-ending quest for the perfect bur. We train our staff in dentistry in partnership with the Dental Trade Alliance (DTA), universities, and talking to active practitioners. We take returns seriously and want feedback from practitioners to tell us what they find are the best and worst aspects of our products.
This attention to real and daily use of our products has enabled us to develop numerous innovations that have eluded our competitors, such as:
- Regular carbide burs delivering unmatched cutting speed due to our unique blade and rake angle designs.
- Crown-cutting carbide burs—our Talon line—delivering unmatched cutting speed due to our one-of-a-kind hyperbolic shape and our amazing blade design that cuts vertically as well as horizontally.
- Unmatched resistance to breakage due to our induction welding and proprietary steel blend.
- Unmatched visibility due to our black shaft that contrasts with both the cutting end of the bur and the material being cut.
Our manufacturing process has focused on developing advanced bur milling machines, on installing a 10 step quality check and on achieving unprecedented levels of automation.
We believe that our passion, focus and technology allow our burs to deliver the world’s best combination of cutting speed, strength and safety.
A focus on doing one thing and doing it right
From the very beginning Tri Hawk has had a clear focus on making burs and only making burs.
To the company this means that research dollars, practitioner feedback, staff ideas, and other knowledge and monetary inputs are highly focused and geared to improve our product, the noble dental bur. A focus that allows us to funnel our resources into making a great product better and creating new and innovative products. In fact, we are so focused on dental burs and quality that we design and build our own milling machines. It is a time consuming and expensive venture but it is one of the characteristics that sets us apart from our competitors and allows us to make completely unique burs.
To the practitioner this means removing uncertainty in your procedures
- Our burs outperform others and break less. You are dealing with a company that can help you select the best bur for a given procedure.
- We know how you use the burs.
- We make a product that reduces your problems and frustrations
- Using a Tri hawk bur means you have better knowledge of your tools.
- AND you become a more effective and efficient practitioner. Your practice will benefit from better patient outcomes, a more effective and efficient office, happier patients and more referrals.
To the patient this means that when a Dentist is using our products in your mouth you are more comfortable, in and out of the chair more quickly, have a lower risk of complications and are generally happier with the dental experience.
Proof in use
A Tri Hawk user, is a customer for life. They may try other burs but they always come back for our quality and consistence. We have many testimonials and have participated in many comparative studies:
- An extensive study by the University of California rated Tri Hawk burs #1 for performance and price.
- 2006 ADA study showed Tri Hawk to be by far the fastest-cutting bur for single-patient use.
- Excellent reviews from Dental Advisor (2008) and Dental Product Shopper (2011)
- None of our burs get returned to us by our customers. (Okay, we’re exaggerating; 0.005% of our burs were returned last year.)
To date we have been the fastest cutting bur in every independent study we have seen. We test our burs regularly in the toughest of materials and the most abusive conditions to ensure that we maintain that standing. If you have new studies to share with us we would love to see them.
Not perfect yet
With all of these accolades from customers and institutions Tri Hawk is still not satisfied with having a great product. Great is not good enough. Remember that our vision is “to be the standard by which all other burs are judged”. To achieve this we need to continue to improve and truly show the world that a focus on quality means a better experience and outcome to the dentist, to the patient, and to the business.
