Asia Pacific dental implant market predicted to grow exponentially through 2023

Decision Resources GroupSep 30 2014

Decision Resources Group finds that the Asia Pacific dental implant market—including Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea—will expand at a strong rate through 2023. Dental implant procedure volumes will grow as physicians are increasingly trained on the technique and as patient awareness rises.

Other key findings from Decision Resources Group's coverage of the Asia Pacific dental implant market:

• Dental implant penetration: Penetration of dental implants among the Asia Pacific countries varies. Japan has the highest dental implant-to-population ratio, while Australia and India have the lowest. Penetration is four times higher in Japan relative to the other two countries.
• Procedure volumes: South Korea represents the largest Asia Pacific market in terms of procedure volumes, with about three times as many procedures performed relative to Japan, which has the second-highest procedure volume.
• Market values and pricing: However, the Japanese and South Korean markets generate similar revenues because price competition is severe in South Korea, resulting in very low selling prices. This is largely due to local low-cost competitors such as OSSTEM IMPLANT, Dentium and DIO Implant.
• Oral health awareness: In China and India, market growth will be particularly rapid. Oral health awareness is growing in these emerging markets, causing more patients to seek out treatment. In many cases, patients' teeth are so badly infected that dental implants are the only treatment option.

Comments from Decision Resources Group Analyst Kristina Vidug:

• "Dentists are very conservative in Japan, and the device approval process is rigorous and time-consuming. Therefore, the penetration of implant fixtures with nanotechnology-based surface treatments is the lowest in the country. This is because dentists are skeptical of these products given the lack of clinical evidence as well as because few products of this nature are available in the market."
• "In addition to strong local competition in South Korea, Japan and India also feature some successful domestic competitors, such as KYOCERA Medical and Indian manufacturer Equinox Medical Technologies. The Asia Pacific market has therefore been more difficult for the traditional international players like Straumann and Nobel Biocare to penetrate."

Additional Resources:

• Kristina Vidug has written a Medtech 360 report on this subject entitled Asia Pacific Markets for Dental Implants 2015. A separate report entitled Chinese Markets for Dental Implants 2015 will be available later this year and will include market valuations broken out at the regional level.