During the war the inventor Erich Kopp worked as a dentist trainee in a dental ward at the front in Russia. There his first ideas for later inventions have its origin.
After 4 years war captivity and after completion of his training as a dentist in Karlsruhe he obtained as late repatriate in 1954 a health insurance license in Pfalzgrafenweiler and could establish a small practice. There the „hobbyist“ started with the improvement and development of auxiliaries for his own professional work.
1958 he obtained the patent for a ground-breaking root elevator for tooth removal. Numerous further developments followed, a special tweezer and an electrical hand switch for drilling machines. Until the foundation of the company in 1963 these have been mainly fabricated in external production facilities or licensed.
Erich Kopps list of ideas has been long and induced him to a business registration in his practice and private buildung that has been newly constructed in 1962.
With the presentation of the Erkopress in 1964 as special novelty in the dental field and the international property right for a still relevant invention of a spacer foil for shrinkage compensation in the thermoforming technique, the international breakthrough has been reached. The number of company employees increased and in 1965 already 10 people have been employed.
The Erkodent office building in 1968.
There were further novelties in the chemical technical field and also further units as the Steamat 1972 and the Poly-Trimmer. Additional – mostly developped in-house – dental and related technical products led to a considerable delivery program. Caused by this growth Erkodent moved 3 times until in 1977/78 the building in the Siemensstrasse, the present company facilities, has been completed. In the meantime the number of employees increased to approx. 50 persons. The dental practice moved to the former building that has been previously purchased in 1968.
Steamat 1972.
Poly-Trimmer.
New building in the Siemensstraße 1977/78.
Erkodent at the 20. International Dental Show (IDS) from March 30 to April 2, 1977 in Duesseldorf.
1980 the podiatry field has been developped with the help of the company Türk, Freudenstadt, which in the meantime makes up about 10 % of the turnover.
In the 80s Erich Kopp gradually handed the management over to his sons, both of them have also studied dentistry. 1983 his son Dr. Claus-Dieter Kopp took over the dental practice. In April 1987 Hans-Peter Kopp became the Managing Director of the Erkodent Erich Kopp GmbH. Both sons have successfully continued and increased practice and company.
Hans-Peter Kopp and his team could continuously expand the company by further developments of consisting products and by own inventions and establish the brand in the domestic market as well as in the international market. So amongst others the unique vacuum thermoforming unit Erkoform-RVE and the occludating device Occluform that can be integrated in the thermoforming unit for direct imprint of the opposing bite. Also Silensor-sl, an anti-snoring device, belongs to the inventions of Hans-Peter Kopp. This success, however, would not have been possible without the whole staff which is today and formerly engaged in a self dependent way and with great interest. Today the Erkodent Erich Kopp GmbH distributes and produces with ultra-modern equipment on approx. 8000 m². Erkodent is certified according to the standards EN ISO 13485:2016 / ISO 9001:2015.
