East Asia, The Fastest Growing Dental Market

“In East Asia alone, there are four types of relationships between dentistry and its market, and these include as examples: 1) Taiwan and Japan with national medical insurance; 2) South Korea with strong national support and subsidies; 3) China with a massive market of its own; 4) Markets that are quickly rising, such as in Vietnam, Thailand, etc.” 

Sweet Space Dental Clinic and CEREC Asia Dental Continuing Education Center founder Dr. Michael Tsao has established years of long-term relationships with top dentists from many countries. He has a wealth of experience in the logistics and business of educating dentists around the world, and identifies the types of dental markets in East Asia, as well as the opportunities that they present.

Founder Dr. Michael Tsao analyzes the current situation of East Asia’s dental industry, opportunities and three bottlenecks.

In Japan and in Taiwan, the people are entitled to National Health Insurance coverage and are accustomed to regular visits to the dental offices. The awareness and demand for dental implants, orthodontics and oral health care in general have also increased. South Korea, on the other hand, has a robust system of government subsidies for medicine, and the high importance it has placed on physical appearance has resulted in steady development in aesthetic medicine. Likewise, its dental medicine has largely focused on aesthetics and implants. China has a large consumer market, but the overall rate of dental visits is only around 9%. With the rise of many large-scale dental group franchises in the country, the invested capital and marketing is prompting the people to become more aware and increase opportunities for tooth treatment.

In recent years, many foreign investors have entered Vietnam with strong capital and the national income has increased year over year. This has in turn boosted the demand for oral medical care. The Thai government, on the other hand, has actively developed its medical tourism industry and promoted the quality of dental medicine. As a result, many international dental industries originally headquartered in Singapore or Hong Kong have now moved to Thailand.

However, despite the current positive outlook the East Asian dental market is now faced with three developmental bottlenecks.

Stagnant for Decades, East Asia’s Dental Industry Now Relies On Taiwan’s Digital Technology To Find Breakthrough

Founder Dr. Michael Tsao analyzes the three challenges: 1) Digitalization in dentistry is unable to keep up with other industries, causing many dentists and investors to take a conservative attitude towards digital dentistry; 2) New dental materials and equipment continue to be pushed into a complex market with confusing and often conflicting information; 3) Many countries attempt to develop their own dental materials and medical equipment, which are then specialized for their markets. As a result, they have not been able to provide comprehensive treatment solutions.

CEREC Asia Digital Oral Medicine Group is the leader in the field of digital dentistry in Taiwan, and is helping the East Asian dental market to overcome these challenges with the combined experiences drawn from its three branches: Sweet Space Dental Clinic, CEREC Asia Dental Continuing Education Center and TOOTH FAERIE Dental Crowdfunding Platform.

TOOTH FAERIE has organized fund-raising and seminars related to new dental materials to attract people from all industries.

CEREC Asia will play the role of an evaluator of major global brands of dental materials and medical equipment. The features, advantages and disadvantages of these latest products will be placed on the platform for dentists to take part in the selection and purchases, in turn minimizing misinformation. Since dental aesthetic standards apply differently to populations around the world, CEREC Asia has compiled clinical and aesthetics data specifically for people in East Asia. This means that dentists will have access to a reliable reference without having to start from scratch. At the same time, CEREC Asia will work with the dental suppliers in the East Asian market to obtain relevant information that best meets the needs of local dental medicine.

The Tooth Faerie Dental Crowdfunding Platform was established this year, and has revolutionized the current model of manufacturers controlling the production of dental product. Instead, the needs of dentists will drive innovative ideas from around the world, and create tools for the dentist, by the dentist. In addition, it can serve as a buffer for dental manufacturers to test the water in advance through fundraising and gain an insight into market demands of the East Asian market. 

CEREC Asia CEO Thomas Tsao said: “Dentistry hasn’t changed much in the past decades. As a result of this inertia, dentists need an abundance of clinical evidence to be willing to switch to new products. Today’s digital dentistry is an inevitable trend, and CEREC Asia’s major task is to assist the dental industry through transformation, including importing electronic medical records or CRM management system, providing dentists with easily accessible product test reports and educational courses to overcome the product misinformation, and assisting dentists in choosing and using the latest medical materials and equipment. In a nutshell, a comprehensive digital integration plan for dentists to thrive in their local market.

CEO Thomas Tsao leads CEREC Asia in assisting East Asia’s dental industry in facilitating digital transformation.

CEREC Asia also serves as a bridge for dental material suppliers, allowing products to be tested before entering the East Asian market while communicating with local dentists to draw feedback. These are just examples of the ways in which Taiwan can assist East Asia through its digital dentistry transformation.

Well-known associations of dentistry in Japan have organized into groups to learn digital dentistry technology at CEREC Asia. 

Creating an incubator for the dental industry! Taiwan a key node in the world’s dental supply chain.

The Sweet Space Dental Clinic under the CEREC Asia Digital Oral Medicine Group is itself the best example of digital dentistry in the East Asian market. Not only has its new digital dental treatment protocol Parallel Procedure has shortened patients’ waiting time from seven days to six hours, it also won the recognition of the National Innovation Awards. In addition, it has also set the record for the highest revenue generated by a single clinic in Asia.

“The crowdfunding platform will subsequently undergo transformation to become an incubator for innovation. It will provide spaces and resources for the dental venture teams to assist Taiwan’s dental industry in having its place in the global dental supply chain.” CEREC Asia director Chiwen Wang revealed their latest plan, which is what CEREC Asia anticipates to achieve after years of hard work.   

According to Director Chiwen Wang, crowdfunding platform TOOTH AFERIE will play the role of an incubator in East Asia’s dental industry in the near future.