The Foundation

1938: Mister Anne Jakob Dijk Sr. sets up the Dental Import & Export Company Dentimex in Zeist, The Netherlands. Dentimex offers a wide range of dental products from international manufacturers to dental professionals in The Netherlands.

Development of Vertex denture base materials

Developments in acrylic materials emerge and create new opportunities for dentures, they were the perfect replacement for the commonly used rubber materials. Mister Dijk had found his magnum opus: he purchases raw materials from ICI and starts producing denture base materials using PMMA.

Here, Dentimex begins its product specialization which would be known worldwide by the name of VERTEX, Latin for “ the highest (achievable) point”.

Start of export of Vertex products to European countries

1950’s

A family business

Mister Dijk’s sons Kees and Hans join the company. They are in charge of the day to day business of the Dentimex trading company and the further development of the Vertex product range. The export of Vertex products increases to more and more countries worldwide through long term business relationships with local distributors.

The production facilities need more space and a new office and production plant is opened at Zeist in the Netherlands.

1960’s

New Vertex products

Product development and testing is done continuously in the lab. The lab facilities are expanded and this results into new products. The era of quick polymerizing products starts. New products like Vertex Rapid Simplified are successfully introduced. These products could be placed into hot water and made it possible to speed up the polymerization process. Until now Vertex Rapid Simplified has proven to be a valuable product in the dental industry.

1970’s

More product developments

The growing dental market needed also quicker techniques to repair a denture quick and easy. The development at the laboratory resulted into the introduction of Vertex Self Curing. A cold-curing acrylic which was processed and polymerized by a total new technique and machinery. Also the pouring technique was slightly used by innovative laboratories. For this purpose Vertex Castavite is developed together with a new type of cuvet.

1980’s

3rd Generation steps in

The 3rd generation of the Dijk family joins the company. The business grows even stronger, extensive development of the business and the product range are ongoing. The assortment is expanded by new type of acrylic materials. Products like Vertex Orthoplast for orthodontic regulators, Vertex Soft for soft relining, Vertex Trayplast for individual trays and Vertex Kallodoc for facial and eye prosthetics. Also a new generation of pouring acrylics, Vertex Castapress, is developed with new type of catalyst system to achieve color stability.

1990’s

Restructuring the company

In the 1990’s both Messrs Hans and Kees Dijk retire. The 3rd generation has brought in new management skills, and over the years restructures the company gradually.

Focus on the core business results in the dissolution of the Dentimex dental trading company in the late 90’s and the set up of the new Vertex-Dental company. The company now solely concentrates on the product development, manufacturing, worldwide sales and marketing of Vertex denture base materials. Still the assortment is expanding by new product developments like Vertex Acrybond and a new range of orthodontic colors.

As the business grows the need for a department of quality assurance and regulatory affairs was necessary. This resulted in achieving the ISO 9001, ISO 13485 certificates and a Medical Device 93/42/EG certification in 1994. All Vertex products were marked with a CE mark and were registered worldwide.

2000 and beyond:

Prepared for the future

2002: A new management team by Mr. Jacky Dijk, Mrs. Connie Peterse – van der Koppel and Mr. Rik. Jacobs was installed. This made it possible to organize the company into a professional organization with a clear structure and a new focus to the market by implementing export management.

2005: To expand the business in the Asia Pacific, a regional sales office is set up in Singapore: Vertex-Dental Asia Pte Ltd. The Asia office is conducted by Mr. Jacky Dijk and employs 3 people. The Singapore office serves distributors in Australia, China and South East Asia.

2006: The Vertex-Dental Academy emerges in order to provide specialist product trainings for denture base materials. Dental technicians from all over the world attend the trainings and benefit highly from them.

2008: Change of the company ownership structure. The family owned company shares are subdivided into three holdings that are owned by respectively Mr. Jacky Dijk (50%), Mr. Rik Jacobs (25%) and Mrs. Connie Peterse – van der Koppel (25%).

The company’s core business and long term strategy are reviewed, redefined and translated into a new marketing approach: Vertex Dental, Premium Denture Solutions.

2008: Excellent export management is rewarded: Mr Rik Jacobs is the winner of the “Export manager award 2007” and Vertex-Dental BV became second at the “Jan Huygen van Linschoten award” for exporting company of the year 2007.

2009: Following the redefined vision and mission, the company’s organizational structure is changed to enhance an even more efficient and effective professional team.