Firm Sinking Its Teeth Into Russian Market

A guidebook to the Russian government sits on a desk in Jeff Pollard’s Thousand Oaks office. Stacked against a wall, framed paintings and tapestries wait for shipment to St. Petersburg where they will grace the waiting room of a dental clinic that Pollard’s company, Vic Pollard Dental Products, is helping to build.

The company, which makes diamond-tipped drills and other dental products, typically employs just 10 people at its Thousand Oaks headquarters. But it has formed partnerships to bring state-of-the-art, private dental clinics to Russia and will soon complete a $3-million contract to create a clinic for Moscow police officers and their families.

The tiny firm has broken into a market overshadowed by political instability, organized crime and constantly changing regulations--a market that has scared off many larger companies.

“If worst came to worst in Russia, and there’s a revolution, sure, our facilities could be commandeered,” said founder Vic Pollard, Jeff’s father. But “if you don’t gamble, you don’t get.”

The facility for the Moscow police department is set to open Saturday, with Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov scheduled to attend. Its 57 dental chairs are expected to serve about 100,000 people.

The Pollards, who specialize in drill bits, are acting as broker for other dental supply firms to stock virtually the entire clinic. They are even sending over American dentists to train their Russian counterparts in the most modern techniques.

The effect on the firm’s bottom line has been dramatic: Since 1992 the company has made more than $5 million in Russia, increasing total sales 10 to 15 times. Before the Russian venture, the firm exported drill bits to England, Italy, Korea and other nations, but nothing like the volume achieved in the former Soviet republic.

The clinic, one of three planned, will also have a profound effect on dental care available to the Russians.

Although most of the work in the police clinic will be provided free, with the tab picked up by the government, the clinic also will serve some customers on a fee-for-service basis. To most Russians, who are accustomed to free health care provided by the government, paying for medical care is a radical concept.

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But some, particularly the country’s new entrepreneurs, are willing to spend cash on better care, Vic Pollard said.

“There is an element that wants private dentistry--they don’t want Soviet dentistry,” he said.

The St. Petersburg clinic, devoted entirely to private dentistry, will also open this month, Jeff Pollard said. Dubbed the Dental Palace, the clinic is housed in a building designated a national historic landmark, just yards away from the Hermitage art museum.

And a third clinic, also private, will open in Moscow in two to five months.

Despite the company’s international reach, its core business remains the diamond-tipped drill bits it has made since Pollard founded the firm in 1972. The bits are just millimeters long, their ends covered with a glittering film of diamond dust. The diamond coating is electroplated onto blank bits in Thousand Oaks, in a narrow white room that looks like a high school chemistry lab.

“If we get kicked out of Russia for some reason, we’ll still have this,” Vic Pollard said.

The company’s Russian ventures are a recent development. In 1990, the U.S. Department of Commerce contacted Pollard and other health professionals about the possibility of doing business in Russia. Pollard attended a medical trade show in Moscow and was impressed by the level of interest.

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“We could have sold everything we had a hundred times over,” he said.

Working with several Russian-Americans, the company formed a joint venture that soon dissolved over what Pollard described as concerns about his newfound partners’ ethics. But these initial forays into the Russian market gave him contacts that eventually led to the dental center projects.

Russian demand for American medical technology has fueled a growing trade between the two countries. Sales of American medical devices in Russia totaled about $15 million in 1992, said Derek Nowek, an international trade specialist with the U.S. Commerce Department. In 1994, they reached about $65 million.

“There is no doubt that perhaps, of all needs in Russia, that is the greatest need,” said Trevor Gunn, a senior international trade specialist in the Commerce Department.

Gunn said Russia’s business environment, including inflation and industrial productivity, has started to improve.

“We’re seeing some more stability,” he said. “But I think you have to remember that Pollard was working at a time, in business development, when all hints of stability were absent. He was working in a wind tunnel.”

And in spite of recent improvements, the Russian business climate remains daunting. Nowek said American companies must deal with poor name recognition, distribution problems and a lack of potential customers with the cash to afford American products and services.

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“If you’re a U.S. company that’s able to identify who are the players with the purchasing power, you can do business,” he said. “It’s a tough market to break into. It’s not a market for everyone.”

Jeff Pollard, company vice president, said the emerging Russian Mafia has made security a major concern for any business trying to crack the market. The way to avoid conflict, he said, is to steer clear of business ventures that compete directly with Russian enterprises in which mobsters may have a stake. So far, the medical technology field has proved relatively safe, he said.

For Jeff Pollard, the connection with Russia is not just a matter of business. He first met his wife, Oksana, in 1991 when she served as his interpreter during a business trip. She now works for the company.

Young Russians such as Oksana, Jeff Pollard said, are eager to exploit the changes in their country, but often don’t know how. “They’re like bulls ready to charge, except they don’t know where to charge to.” he said. “They don’t want a handout; they want a hand.”

Their talents and drive, he said, will eventually help them revitalize their country, and if American companies want to participate in that process, they should act now.

“If we don’t help them now, and they rise to the glory that they’re bound to rise to, they’re not going to be happy,” he said. “They’re going to be adversaries and not allies. . . . One of the biggest mistakes the United States can make right now is to ignore Russia. Russians will get it together, with or without us.”