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The New Dimension Wm. Randol Womack, DDS Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

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By Wm. Randol Womack, DDS
Editorial Director, Orthotown Magazine

I was fortunate to attend the first Anatomage-users meeting this year. The first speaker was Dr. Jack Choi, the founder and CEO of Anatomage. I found his story completely fascinating. I thought our readers would find this human-interest story equally interesting so I took the opportunity to ask Dr. Choi a few questions.

Dr. Choi, first of all, can you tell me a little bit about Anatomage?
Choi: Anatomage is a 3D-imaging technology company. We have our 3Dimaging software, In-Vivo Dental, and other applications such as 3D analysis and Medical Design Studio. We also have AnatoModel service and a surgical guide service. We are located in San Jose, California, where we have about 25 employees and are still growing.

How did you start Anatomage?
Choi: I finished my doctorate in 1996 and I didn't have a lot of money but I wanted to be an entrepreneur. After several very unsuccessful initial attempts at starting a business, I realized that I needed to be better prepared and I needed to start at the right place. So I decided to go to California and I chose to go to Silicon Valley. It was the time when "dot com" was growing. It was very difficult for a foreign student like me. I struggled for more than two years to get a job. When I arrived in San Jose in November 1999, it was a very emotional achievement for me. I felt like the early settlers who crossed the entire country to get to California – so I called myself a 99er who came to California for the "dot com" rush, just like the 49ers arrived here for the Gold Rush.

As an H-1 worker, I could not work for my own company. I had to work for a sponsoring company. I was employed at Align Technology to work my way toward my green card. In 2004, I received my green card and left Align to start my own company. This journey took eight years, just to have the opportunity to start a company.

In the beginning, I was tinkering with several different ventures at the same time. I was considering an online retail shoe business and an online video business. While I was working on the prototypes for these ideas, I realized that a lot of capital would be needed and I was not sure I could raise that kind of money. I decided building 3D software would be less costly, so I gave up the others to focus more on the software. That's how Anatomage was started.

About the same time I was focusing on software, those other ventures started – the online shoe retail sales and online videos. They are now known as Zappos and YouTube. Both of them are more than $1 billion sites, but I believed that Anatomage would be a very rewarding experience for me.

What inspired you to do 3D-imaging software?
Choi: I learned about cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) while I was working at Align Technology. I believed that CBCT had a great potential to grow, because it had a simple and similar structure to a panoramic radiograph and it had great clinical benefits. I thought I could develop software for the CBCT machine. I believed 3D imaging had clinical benefits over 2D images, regardless of any other negative factors.

What did you focus on in developing Anatomage?
Choi: We focused on how to make 3D imaging more clinically useful. It had good diagnostic value but there was more than that. Just the one-to-one, actual scale information was highly valuable. Also, being able to visually communicate with the patient would become more and more important. We wanted to come up with interesting features and products that didn't exist previously.

How is Anatomage different from other companies?
Choi: At Anatomage, we are highly driven by innovation. We search for something that nobody has done before. Frequently we have to build products in response to customer's requests. We get very excited when we come up with something new and different. That's why you will find that our software is unique and interesting. We learned that our customers' perception of need and desire is formed on the basis of existing products in the market. When a truly innovative product is presented, our customers develop a new need and desire for the product. Apple has been a good model for Anatomage. We enjoy building products that customers love and are enthusiastic about, just like Apple did with the iPhone.

How do you see the future for 3D imaging?
Choi: I recently saw a graph showing the cost of 3D machines over time. It showed that in 2002 the cost was about $400K. Over time the graph shows cost coming down to less than $200K in 2007 and around $100K by 2010.

The critical factor for 3D-machine cost is the flat-panel sensor since the supply is limited. There are more and more companies making these sensors now. We believe we will see the price drop more in future. If the slope of the graph continues the same, the cost of CBCT by 2013 would be about $50K. As this technology becomes more affordable for the average dentist, the utilization of the information and Anatomage software will increase significantly.

Who are the users of Anatomage?
Choi:We have several categories of Anatomage users. We have the most advanced doctors in dentistry. Many of them are opinion leaders from a wide range of specialties. You might call them "3D Pioneers." We provide unique products for each specialty we serve, from oral surgeons to periodontists to implantologists to orthodontists to TMJ specialists.

What were the goals for Anatomage?
Choi: There are many 3D-software packages available today. The goal for Anatomage is to stay focused on clinically oriented innovation that can be easily used by the doctor. We were the first to provide True Dental Volumetric Rendering and the True Implant Volume. Since then, we have many exclusive innovative products for 3D software. One of the important innovations is Volumetric Superimposition. We did 3D photo wrapping with volumetric images. Also a fully anatomical model from a CBCT scan alone is one of our important innovations. We are pleased to see that several other companies are adopting our software functions and visualizations. We are proud to be setting the standard for 3D imaging.

What does Anatomage offer specifically to orthodontics?
Choi: For orthodontists, we have two important products. One is AnatoModel and the other one is 3D cephalometric analysis. Both of them are new concept products and we are experiencing various responses from customers. For AnatoModel, customers tend to be reluctant to accept pay-per-case. However, when doctors actually implement the service into their practice, they experience significant new patient conversion growth and become excited and enthusiastic about our AnatoModel service.

For 3D analysis, we were told that orthodontists didn't care much about cephalometric analysis. Surprisingly, when we released our 3D cephalometric product, there were so many doctors who wanted to build their own 3D analysis. We are very excited to see that many doctors are adopting the new technology and incorporating it into their everyday practice routine. That's what motivates us.

Dr. Choi, this is a remarkable story of how imagination, inspiration and perspiration has enabled you to accomplish the American dream of success. I appreciate you sharing your personal story with our readers. I can find just one way to conclude this article – only in America.
Orthotown Magazine
October 2025
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