26 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST COVER STORY American astronomer Carl Sagan remarked: “You have to know the past to understand the present.” Looking back on 50 years of SDI, it’s impossible to appreciate the current success of Australia’s home-grown dental materials corporation without revisiting its humble beginnings – although to readers of this magazine, SDI’s storied past might well be industry folklore by now. Still, it’s a fascinating account that continues to shine a light on the indomitable spirit of Australian innovation and entrepreneurship. How it all began In 1972, Jeffrey Cheetham started SDI from his home garage, simply because he thought that the services dentists were receiving in those days were less than ideal. The single-use dental amalgam capsule was christened as the very first SDI product. Developed through repeated trial-anderror tests, SDI founder Jeffrey Cheetham would spend countless hours perfecting the mixture over the kitchen sink, getting it ready for the first crop of Aussie dentist customers. Finding modest success with his maiden innovation, more home made products soon followed: tooth-coloured restoratives, plastic composite fillings and tooth whitening. Early sacrifices As the business started to expand requiring fresh injection of funds, the financially squeezed Cheethams remained undeterred. “Well I used my personal finances,” Jeffrey recalls nonchalantly, in a video commemorating 50 years of SDI. “My wife and I literally had to mortgage the dog.” To help cut costs while making space for amalgam capsule production, Jeffery even had to move his daughter, Samantha, out of her own bedroom. “She doesn’t like being reminded about that,” he quips. SDI’s current CEO and Managing Director, Samantha Cheetham looks SDI turns 50! Revisiting the trailblazing story of Australia’s beloved dental brand and company By Danny Chan back on that infamous episode as just another example of Dad’s “entrepreneurial mindset.” Although she cannot remember her reaction being too young at the time, Samantha reckons her bedroom was “probably identified as the quickest and cheapest location for the expansion of SDI operations.” “Ambition was endless, but money and time was in short supply,” she adds. “Jeff had to order, organise and store imported materials in bulk – and then fill large production orders at short notice. I’m sure that if our original house had more bedrooms, each one would have been converted to a research, production or product storage room.” Global ambitions In 1976, Jeff and his wife Pamela went on a trip that would forge the future direction of SDI. Having only started their export business a year before, the ambitious couple had already set their sights on a global market. However, the original plan to cultivate sales channels in England was quickly squashed by expensive air-tickets. As luck would have it, Olympic Airways had a special deal flying to Athens, Greece. It was there that the Cheethams met Miltos Vitsaropoulos, who gave them their first big break to export SDI’s innovative capsules. On the strength of that one trip, Jeff secured five distributors across Asia, and in 1980 decided he would expand into America. By 1990, SDI had opened a tiny American office and secured distribution across Asia. Another SDI office followed CEO and Managing Director, Samantha Cheetham
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