IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 23, 2013) - BIOLASE, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOL), the world's leading manufacturer and distributor of dental lasers and a pioneer in laser surgery in other medical specialties, announced today that medical device marketing executive and eye care, medical laser, and post-surgical anesthesia industry veteran Orlando P. Rodrigues has been named Vice President, Marketing. Mr. Rodrigues will report to President and Chief Operating Officer Alexander K. Arrow, M.D.

Mr. Rodrigues, 51, was Vice President of Marketing for I-Flow Corporation from 2002-2010, during which time I-Flow revenues grew from $25 million to $140 million. Mr. Rodrigues created brand awareness and guerrilla marketing campaigns that motivated surgeons and anesthesiologists to adopt I-Flow's ON-Q post-surgical pain control product as the standard of care, and persuaded several hospitals and surgery centers to spend their own marketing funds on co-op ads to attract patients by showing that they offered I-Flow's products at their facility. By the time I-Flow was acquired by Kimberly Clark (NYSE: KMB) in November 2009 for $325 million, it had a sales force of some 300 people in 170 sales territories.

From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Rodrigues was VP of Marketing for Laser Diagnostic Technologies, Inc., a laser medical device company serving ophthalmologists and optometrists in single office and chain settings, a role that including marketing financing to office-based clinicians. "I'm excited to join BIOLASE^®, a company where dental and numerous non-dental market opportunities make it ideal to apply marketing practices that have been proven successful at linking disruptive platform technologies with practitioners who need them," said Mr. Rodrigues. "BIOLASE has fantastic dental products with significant benefits that have been under-marketed. I will work hard to see that our customers, prospective customers, and patients will enjoy a better surgical experience. Plus, we will add new campaigns to drive interest and demand in multiple non-dental markets."

Rodrigues began his career at Allergan, Inc. in 1983 and rose to the position of Director of Strategic Marketing. After a decade at Allergan, Rodrigues worked for the consumer-oriented Vision Care Division of Alcon Laboratories, Inc. as Group Product Director and eventually Director of Marketing. He then held the roles of VP, Marketing and VP, Consumer Development Division, at Sonic Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNCI).

Federico Pignatelli, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "I am pleased to have the talented and energetic Mr. Rodrigues take on the role of Vice President, Marketing. For the first time in five years, BIOLASE has separated the departments of Sales and Marketing - which is consistent with medical technology best practices for optimizing both departments. Our upcoming non-dental launches and our core dental business growth opportunities make this the right time to expand and deepen our management structure in this way."

"Our goal was to fill this position with someone who knows how to create marketing campaigns that persuade clinicians to get involved in marketing a company's product," said Alexander Arrow, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer. "The right person would also have worked with a product that required clinicians to change their habits to use it, and have also led marketing for a company whose product was capital equipment, preferably involving lasers. Orlando meets both those criteria, plus he is a known quantity to me because I have followed his work for eleven years. I always thought that if I ever had the opportunity to hire Orlando to head marketing in a company, I would do it."

About BIOLASE, Inc.
BIOLASE, Inc. is a biomedical company that develops, manufactures, and markets innovative lasers in dentistry and medicine and also markets and distributes high-end 2D and 3D digital imaging equipment and CAD/CAM intraoral scanners; products that are focused on technologies that advance the practice of dentistry and medicine. The Company's proprietary laser products incorporate over 350 patented and patent-pending technologies designed to provide biologically clinically superior performance with less pain and faster recovery times. Its imaginative products provide cutting-edge technology at competitive prices to deliver the best results for dentists and patients. BIOLASE's principal products are revolutionary dental laser systems that perform a broad range of dental procedures, including cosmetic and complex surgical applications, and a full line of dental imaging equipment. BIOLASE has sold more than 22,500 lasers. Other laser products under development address ophthalmology and other medical and consumer markets.

For updates and information on WaterLase^® and laser dentistry, find BIOLASE online at www.biolase.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/biolaseinc, Twitter at www.twitter.com/biolaseinc, Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/biolase, LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/biolase, Instagram at www.instagram.com/biolaseinc and YouTube at www.youtube.com/biolasevideos.

BIOLASE^® and WaterLase^® are registered trademarks of BIOLASE, Inc.