Online-Dental.uk started in 2015 with two friends, Tom Lee and Dan Storey, who were working as territory managers in the dental implant industry.
At the time, a lot of their working day was spent on the phone. There were plenty of conversations about work, but probably just as many about football, life and whatever else happened to come up. Eventually, they started thinking that they should probably make better use of all that time on the phone.
The original plan was fairly simple. Start something on the side, make a bit of extra money and, if things went well, buy themselves a snowboard each. It turned out to become something slightly bigger than that.
Spotting a gap in the market
Both Tom and Dan already had a lot of experience in implant dentistry, particularly on the restorative side. They had spent years talking to clinicians and dental laboratories and understood some of the frustrations that came with restoring dental implants.
They felt there was a gap in the UK market for a business that genuinely understood the restorative side of implant dentistry and could offer the right products alongside the knowledge and support to go with them. Around the same time, they discovered IPD, a manufacturer based in Barcelona. IPD was looking for a partner to represent its products in the UK and Ireland, so the timing worked out rather nicely. In 2015, Online-Dental.uk became the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor for IPD. That was really where the idea started to take shape.
From a side project to a business
Omnident UK Ltd was incorporated and the Online-Dental.uk brand was created. A simple Shopify website was built, stock was purchased and a third-party fulfilment company was brought in to handle the logistics.
The next job was getting people to know who Online-Dental.uk was. Email databases were used to introduce IPD to dentists and dental laboratories, with a straightforward offer: high-quality compatible implant components, competitive pricing and next-day delivery.
Buying dental products online was still relatively unusual in 2015, so Online-Dental.uk was an early adopter of true ecommerce within the UK dental market. There was no large sales team or traditional dental distribution structure behind it. The business grew gradually, with Tom and Dan building it alongside their existing roles. It was still very much a side project, but it was starting to look like it might have some legs.
Knowledge first, sales second
As the business grew, it became clear that the people representing Online-Dental.uk needed to know what they were talking about. Tom and Dan never wanted to build a conventional sales organisation where the main focus was simply getting products out of the door. If the business was going to position itself as a restorative specialist, then the people speaking to customers needed to understand implant dentistry properly.
Bert Grobler became an important part of the early operational support, and later Jitesh Patel, Kelly Hammond and Jacob van Wyk joined the sales team. All three brought strong backgrounds in dental implants with them. The idea was simple, customers should be able to have a proper conversation with someone who understood the products, the clinical side and the problems they were trying to solve. That approach is still a big part of how we work today.
Looking after the customer
From the beginning, one thing mattered more than anything else: look after the customer. Tom and Dan had both experienced the frustrations that can come with dealing with suppliers. Trying to get hold of someone, waiting for answers, chasing delayed products or having to contact several different companies just to find the components needed for a case was all too familiar.
They wanted Online-Dental.uk to be different. That meant being easy to reach, answering questions properly and helping where we could, even when the answer did not immediately result in an order. Of course, we have made mistakes along the way. Every growing business does, but what has stayed consistent is the importance we place on customer service and support. We want customers to know that there are real people behind the business who are there to help.
Keeping up with digital dentistry
While Online-Dental.uk was growing, the industry was changing too. IPD evolved from a manufacturer of compatible implant components into a specialist provider of digital restorative solutions. Digital dentistry was becoming a much bigger part of everyday workflows, and the conversations we were having with customers were becoming more detailed.
It was no longer just about which component was needed. Customers were asking about digital libraries, scan bodies, Ti-bases, digital analogues and full-arch solutions. They wanted to understand how different parts of the workflow fitted together and how they could make their own processes more efficient. Online-Dental.uk developed alongside those changes.
Our role became much more than supplying individual components. We started helping laboratories implement digital workflows, rationalise their inventory and consolidate suppliers across different implant systems. Accuracy and precision became increasingly important. Digital libraries needed to work correctly. Workflows needed to be reliable. Restorative solutions needed to fit into the way laboratories actually worked.
That meant having the technical knowledge to support customers properly, rather than simply selling them a product and leaving them to work it out themselves.
2022: The next step
By 2022, the side project had become something much bigger. Tom and Dan presented their plans to IPD, and IPD subsequently invested in Online-Dental.uk. Tom joined the business full-time, followed by Dan later on. That investment gave the business the opportunity to grow properly, with more resource going into sales, customer service, operations, marketing, education and technical support.
The portfolio grew too. iDENT custom prosthetics and ScanLogiQ full-arch digital workflows were added, giving customers access to more specialised restorative solutions alongside the existing IPD range. The business was no longer two friends trying to make enough money for a couple of snowboards. It had become a growing specialist business in its own right.
2026: A new home and a bigger team
In 2026, Online-Dental.uk joined forces with Darren Shorrocks, formerly of Ceramet. Darren brought years of experience from the dental industry, and the move also gave Online-Dental.uk a new home in Macclesfield. The new facility includes a dedicated clinical education centre, giving us somewhere to bring customers together for courses, study clubs and other educational events.
The team has grown too. Georgia and Eleanor have strengthened the customer service team alongside Bert, while Alex joined to focus on marketing and education. The portfolio has also continued to develop, with Cendres+Métaux and Sagemax joining IPD, iDENT and ScanLogiQ. We have never wanted to collect manufacturers simply for the sake of having more brands. The idea is to work with manufacturers and technologies that complement what we already offer and help solve real restorative challenges.
Today, that means being able to support customers across components, materials, custom prosthetics and digital workflows, as well as providing technical support and education. That is what we mean when we describe Online-Dental.uk as a comprehensive restorative partner.
It has always been about the customers
None of this growth has happened in isolation. The laboratories, clinicians and businesses we work with have played a huge part in getting us here. Customers have trusted us with their cases, shared their experiences, challenged us when something could be done better and helped us understand where the industry was heading.
A lot of what we have developed has come from those conversations. As our customers' needs have changed, so have our products, workflows and services. That relationship works both ways. When people trust us with their business, we have a responsibility to provide the products they need, keep them supplied, give them the technical knowledge they need and be there when they need some help. We are genuinely grateful to the customers who have supported Online-Dental.uk over the years and who have continued to grow with us.
So, where are we now?
Online-Dental.uk looks very different from the business Tom and Dan started in 2015. Back then, there was a Shopify website, some stock, an email database, a third-party fulfilment company and the hope of buying a couple of snowboards.
Today, we have a team supporting dental laboratories and clinicians across the UK and Ireland. The products have changed. The team has changed. The industry has changed. What hasn't changed is what we care about.
Accuracy and precision still matter. Understanding restorative dentistry still matters. Having the right products and workflows still matters. Most importantly, being able to give customers the support and knowledge they need still matters.
Looking ahead to the next decade, the ambition is much the same as it has always been. Keep listening to customers, invest in the people around us, choose the right restorative technologies and keep improving the level of support we provide. We might have moved on from the original plan to buy some snowboards, but the business is still growing... And we're only just getting started!
