Henry Schein Announces New Strategic Partnership With Brain-Pad(R)

MELVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC), the largest distributor of health care products and services to office-based practitioners, today announced a new strategic partnership with Brain-Pad. Under a new five year agreement, Henry Schein Dental will be the exclusive professional dental distributor in the U.S. and Canada for the NatureZone™ one-touch UV/Ozone oral appliance sanitizer.  

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100226/NY61361 )

Brain-Pad's NatureZone™ UV/Ozone oral sanitizer is an innovative new solution to quickly, safely and effectively disinfect, sanitize and deodorize oral appliances including mouth guards, retainers, dentures, night guards, and more.  Equipped with a unique, patented ultraviolet light and ozone ion technology, NatureZone™ kills 99.9 percent of germs and viruses that can lead to MRSA, Staph, and Strep bacteria on any oral appliance in less than three minutes.  

Henry Schein will also market and distribute Brain-Pad's line of protective and performance dual-arch athletic mouth guards to dental practitioners and laboratories on a non-exclusive basis.

"Mouth guards that provide critical protection for athletes and important oral health appliances such as retainers and dentures can pose a significant health risk due to the serious pathogens these appliances can harbor," said Tim Sullivan, President of Henry Schein Dental.  "Henry Schein is proud to partner with Brain-Pad to ensure that this safe, easy-to-use, portable sanitizing product is available to all of our customers and their patients."  

"Henry Schein's unparalleled distribution networks, close relationships with customers, and stellar reputation for educating its customers about the most innovative new products on the market makes Henry Schein an ideal partner for Brain-Pad," said Joseph Manzo, Chief Executive Officer of Brain-Pad, Inc. "Our products give dental patients solutions to protect their investment in dental procedures and appliances. We look forward to collaborating with Henry Schein to provide these unique protective and performance products for dental professionals across North America."

About Brain-Pad

A privately held corporation, founded in 1995 specifically for the promotion, manufacture, and sale of customized Brain-Pad® dual-arch mouth-guards designed to reduce the risk of concussion from lower jaw impacts while increasing endurance and performance. Brain-Pad, Inc. has become a leader in technology development in this field. Its Brain-Pad® products are available in retail and wholesale outlets as well as through distributors, contact sports leagues, professional organizations, school teams at intermediate, high-school, college, and university level. Brain-Pad® products are well-accepted by professional sports athletes in boxing, mixed martial arts, football and many other contact sports. Brain-Pad® products also include shock-absorbing wrist, arm and head-bands as well as: juniors', women's, men's, and professional athlete's dual-arch protective and high performance mouth-guards.

Brain-Pad, Inc. recently developed, patented, and commercially released a premium ultra-violet/ozone oral appliance sanitizer, the NatureZone™, available to retailers and distributors,  but exclusively distributed to the professional dental industry by Henry Schein.   Brain-Pad, Inc.'s corporate headquarters are located in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. For product or company details contact 610-397-0893, [email protected], or visit www.brainpads.com.

About Henry Schein

Henry Schein, a Fortune 500® company and a member of the NASDAQ 100® Index, is recognized for its excellent customer service and highly competitive prices. The Company's four business groups - Dental, Medical, International and Technology - serve more than 600,000 customers worldwide, including dental practitioners and laboratories, physician practices and animal health clinics, as well as government and other institutions.

The Company operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, which provides customers in more than 200 countries with a comprehensive selection of more than 90,000 national and Henry Schein private-brand products in stock, as well as more than 100,000 additional products available as special-order items. Henry Schein also provides exclusive, innovative technology offerings for dental, medical and veterinary professionals, including value-added practice management software and electronic health record solutions.

Headquartered in Melville, N.Y., Henry Schein employs more than 13,500 people and has operations or affiliates in 23 countries. The Company's net sales reached a record $6.5 billion in 2009. For more information, visit the Henry Schein Web site at www.henryschein.com.

In accordance with the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we provide the following cautionary remarks regarding important factors that, among others, could cause future results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, expectations and assumptions expressed or implied herein.  All forward-looking statements made by us are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance.  These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance and achievements or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  These statements are identified by the use of such terms as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "anticipate" or other comparable terms.  A full discussion of our operations and financial condition, including factors that may affect our business and future prospects, is contained in documents we have filed with the SEC and will be contained in all subsequent periodic filings we make with the SEC.  These documents identify in detail important risk factors that could cause our actual performance to differ materially from current expectations.

Risk factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current and historical results include, but are not limited to: decreased customer demand and changes in vendor credit terms; disruptions in financial markets; general economic conditions; effects of a highly competitive market; changes in the healthcare industry; changes in regulatory requirements; risks from expansion of customer purchasing power and multi-tiered costing structures; risks associated with our international operations; fluctuations in quarterly earnings; our dependence on third parties for the manufacture and supply of our products; transitional challenges associated with acquisitions, including the failure to achieve anticipated synergies; financial risks associated with acquisitions; regulatory and litigation risks; the dependence on our continued product development, technical support and successful marketing in the technology segment; risks from disruption to our information systems; our dependence upon sales personnel, manufacturers and customers; our dependence on our senior management; possible increases in the cost of shipping our products or other service issues with our third-party shippers; risks from rapid technological change; possible volatility of the market price of our common stock; certain provisions in our governing documents that may discourage third-party acquisitions of us; and changes in tax legislation.  The order in which these factors appear should not be construed to indicate their relative importance or priority.  

We caution that these factors may not be exhaustive and that many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict.  Accordingly, any forward-looking statements contained herein should not be relied upon as a prediction of actual results.  We undertake no duty and have no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Henry Schein, Inc.