Chinese face up to need for brighter smiles

A dentist at work in the Yinchuan Stomatological Hospital in Ningxia Hui autonomous region. [Photo / Xinhua]

Driven by the increasing awareness of dental health, orthodontics and dental implants will help the industry maintain a 20 to 30 percent annual growth rate, according the report.

The report estimates that the number of implanted teeth will soar to 500,000 in the coming five years from 100,000 at present.

Thanks to the buoyant advance of the dentistry market, Chinese dental hospitals are expected to see continued vibrant growth.

In 2010, the revenue of Chinese dental hospitals totaled 5.22 billion yuan, with the growth rate averaging 21.8 percent from 2006 to 2010.

The gross margin was at a high level of about 11 percent in the three years to 2010.

Dentist Tommy Ma, founder of Jsmile Dental in Shanghai, said he has been seeing an increasing number of Chinese patients over the past few years.

"Slowly but surely, Chinese people are becoming more aware of their smiles, but the gap is still wide with developed countries such as the United States," said Ma.

He owned and operated a dental clinic in Atlanta in the United States for six years before moving his practice to Shanghai in 2010.

Ma started out in Shanghai mostly serving expatriates in the city, who are more willing to visit dentists than their Chinese counterparts.

But today, Chinese customers make up a substantial part of his client base and his clinic is preparing an ad campaign that specifically targets Chinese patients.

At the moment, most of the Chinese customers coming to Ma's clinic are there to get their teeth straightened, but few do regular check-ups like their American counterparts.

"Chinese people view dental care as a one-time thing. They come to us only when their teeth hurt or need straightening.

"In the US, people see dental care as a lifetime routine and have regular dental exams," said Ma.