An Industry That’s Got Teeth: A Look at the Dental Market

Why It’s Important: Dentistry is a Significantly Growing Business
U.S. expenditures on dental care have increased dramatically over the past two decades, from $31 billion in 1990 to $105 billion in 2010.³ Approximately 80,000 dental practices are in operation in the United States, with an estimated 75-80 percent of dentists still in private practice.⁴ While there are multiple specialties, such as oral surgery, orthodontics, etc., it is estimated that general dentistry is the largest, with an 84 percent share of the market.


























High Consumer Self-Pay
There is a lesson to be learned from the dental industry. Patient expectations are different when it comes to dentistry, and even those with dental insurance are accustomed to higher out-of-pocket payments than are seen by other medical specialties and hospitals.

Improved Outcomes Through Medical Technology
There is significant overlap between dental and medical technologies. Dentistry uses digital radiography, bone grafting and tissue regeneration technologies. The CAD/CAM systems used for highly innovative and quickly-produced orthotics and prosthetics are similar to those used in dentistry to produce inlays, crowns, and veneers. New tissue engineering technologies using stem cells are expected to change dental practices radically by addressing the regeneration of teeth or partial regeneration in teeth where decay (caries) are found.

Less Invasive, Less Pain for Patients
Dental technology parallels the medical device industry. The addition of advanced technologies lead to less invasive, less painful procedures, to benefit the patient and the dentist. Many dentistry innovations are focused on patient comfort with low-impact methods designed to increase patient retention and rate of return.

References:

1. Journal of the History of Dentistry49(2): 77–80.PMID11484317
2. U.S. Dental Products & Services–2013, a Capital Markets Perspective, The Forsyth Institute, Capital IQ
3. U.S. Dental Products & Services–2013, a Capital Markets Perspective, The Forsyth Institute, Patterson Dental SEC Filings
4. The Dental Market: Techniques, Equipment & Materials, BCC Research
5. U.S. Dental Products & Services–2013, a Capital Markets Perspective, The Forsyth Institute, U.S. Census Bureau

Editor’s note: Readers are invited to submit market data and trend questions to Maria Shepherd. Periodically, selected questions will be presented in this column, with answers from Maria. Send your questions to [email protected].

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Maria Shepherd has 20 years of leadership experience in medical device/life-science marketing in small startups and top-tier companies. After her industry career—including her role as vice president of Marketing for Oridion Medical where she helped boost the company valuation prior to its acquisition by Covidien; director of Marketing for Philips Medical; and senior management roles at Boston Scientific Inc.—she founded Data Decision Group. Data Decision Group (www.ddecisiongroup.com) provides whitespace research and critical data to support medical device product development. The firm performs market research, evaluates new technologies and provides marketing services and human factors usability testing. Shepherd has taught marketing and product development courses and recently was appointed to the board of the MSBiV Medtech Investment Committee. She can be reached at (617) 548-9892 or at [email protected].