“Capture the digital dentistry market with an average annual growth rate of 11%”

Domestic companies are smiling at the spread of ‘digital dentistry’, which is presented as the future of dental treatment and care. Osstem Implant is aiming to expand its share of the global dental market by strengthening its software ecosystem, and Vieworks is widening the gap with latecomers with sales of its hardware-related business division growing by nearly 30%.

Digital dentistry is a term that means ‘digitizing all dental treatment processes.’ Dental clinical sites are actively introducing digital technology to understand the patient’s oral structure and design optimized dental structures or customized treatment programs.

In particular, the digital transformation is the fastest in the production of prosthetics and dental technology that replace existing teeth. Intraoral scanners, CT (computed tomography) tests, and 3D printers are already being fully utilized in the production of dental prosthetics. In the past, dentists made plaster models of patients’ teeth and dental technicians made prosthetics manually, but now automation is underway through digital technology.

Digital dentistry aims to integrate and manage dental treatment processes that have become faster and more sophisticated through digital technology into a single system. It aims to efficiently provide patient-centered, customized treatment through the process of acquiring patient data, designing optimized prosthetics, and automatically manufacturing them.

Global market research firm Market and Market predicted that the digital dentistry market size will grow steadily, centered on advanced countries, to reach $12.2 billion (approximately KRW 16.8 trillion) by 2028. It is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 10.9% over the next five years, compared to last year’s global market size of $7.2 billion (approximately KRW 9.9 trillion).

Accordingly, Osstem Implant, a leading domestic dental solution company, also announced its plan to take the lead in the relevant market. Earlier this month, Osstem Implant presented a software enhancement solution as a way to lead the next-generation digital dentistry market. The goal is to develop a solution that covers the entire treatment process by enhancing the functions of its own software program.

Ostem Implant plans to strengthen its dental insurance claim program and dental-specific electronic medical record system. The plan is to expand the digital dentistry ecosystem, which is currently mainly focused on monitoring test results and designing and manufacturing prosthetics, to all aspects of dentists’ work.

A company official said, “We plan to upgrade the algorithms of our insurance claim program and image diagnosis program to simplify work and clearly identify areas that require treatment,” adding, “We believe that providing software with powerful functions to help dentists provide better treatment and run their hospitals more smoothly is the true realization of digital dentistry.”

As digital dentistry spreads, Vieworks, a medical imaging solution company, announced that it is continuing to see brisk sales. Sales of video detectors, a product line optimized for digital dentistry, are growing rapidly. Video detectors are equipment used for ‘3D cone beam CT imaging’, which is commonly performed to obtain detailed data during the preparation process for wisdom tooth extraction or implant surgery.

According to Vieworks, sales of video detectors in the first half of this year amounted to 23.3 billion won, up 28.9% from the same period last year. In particular, sales in the European and American markets, where dental treatment demand is high, account for about half. This is because the company’s own technology, which can safely preserve data even with fast image transmission, has received a positive response from the market.

A Vieworks official said, “We are currently continuing development of a product line of photographing sensors used for dental panoramas and head shots,” and added, “We will expand our dental lineup, which is a high value-added product line, to secure differentiated market competitiveness.”