Smiling through the pain

For small companies, rising orders may not necessarily mean a rise in profits — there may even be a profit decline. They should pay special attention to the changing demand of consumers, and adjust business strategies accordingly.

"Leading companies are suggested to take advantage of better service resources and capabilities, siphon off the majority of patients in the region and improve user stickiness with overall oral solutions, to achieve a higher premium," he added.

Ding Ning, former general manager of Rongyu Group, said the new policy on dental implants gives "full recognition to the value of medical service, making enterprises increase their efforts in recruiting high-quality dentists, to offer multidimensional dental implant services to meet the varied consumer demand".

Zhu from Mei Wei Dental Group said that going forward, the group will lay emphasis on the quality of medical service and digitalization.

"With the popularization of dental implants, the market could be better educated, making consumers gain a better understanding about oral disease prevention and periodontal maintenance, and thus promote the development of the dental industry," Hu said.

Data from the China National Committee on Aging showed that by 2022, over 50 percent of elderly people aged between 65 and 74 in China were missing more than 10 teeth due to various reasons, while 26 percent of those over 74 years old had lost all their teeth.

According to a report from market consultancy iiMedia Research, in 2021, China's dental service market totaled 146.1 billion yuan, up 16.2 percent year-on-year. The dental implant market makes up roughly 25 percent of the overall industry, adding up to 36.5 billion yuan.

At a cost of about 8,000 yuan per tooth, the number of dental implants in China in 2021 exceeded 4.5 million, the highest in the world in terms of annual dental implant numbers, according to the report.