Founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1923, our company has been domiciled in the Principality of Liechtenstein since the 1930s. We opened our first international subsidiary in Germany in 1954.

We impressed customers with our invention of predosed, mechanically mixable tooth filling and cementation materials in capsules, and we launched a new generation of artificial teeth, which featured what is known as the “Pearl Effect”.

We started to expand our business activities in Europe and founded subsidiaries in France (1960), Italy (1962) and Austria (1966).

We continued to expand internationally by opening offices in Sweden and Spain (both in 1972), Australia (1975), the US and New Zealand (both in 1978) and Canada (1979).

We built new facilities in Bludenz (Austria), where we started manufacturing dental laboratory equipment.

In 1986 we acquired Williams Gold Refining Co., one of the most successful manufacturers of precious metal products for the dental industry.

The significance of the North American market continued to increase for our company. Our subsidiary in the US grew rapidly.

In 1991, we introduced the IPS Empress porcelain system:  The world’s first pressed ceramic revolutionized the dental industry.

The Tetric technology, which was launched on the market in the following year, ushered in a new era in tooth-coloured restorative materials

We took a bold step and ventured into the Asian market, where we opened a production facility in the Philippines (1993) and a subsidiary in China (1998). 

The IPS e.max lithium disilicate glass-ceramic was introduced in 2005. Within a very short time, this material established itself as the benchmark for all dental glass-ceramics.

In 2017, Ivoclar acquired Kapanu, a company developing innovative digital solutions for the dental industry. IvoSmile, the consultation app based on augmented reality, was launched a year later.

Today, digital dentistry is one of our most significant growth drivers: Digital workflows involve intraoral scanners for digital impression taking as well as digital manufacturing equipment, such as milling and 3D printing machines.

We are also developing new solutions in the field of Augmented Reality and IoT, which will raise the work of dentists and dental and dental technicians to a whole new level.