An Industry That’s Got Teeth: A Look at the Dental Market

What medical business has outperformed the S&P 500, the pharmaceutical, medtech and biotech industries in terms of stock market performance from 1Q09 to 1Q13? Which industry beats the medtech reimbursement paradigm, uses technologies familiar to the orthopedics industry, seems immune to healthcare reform and claims the first stent? The answer? The dental industry. This sector is in the medtech space but also stands apart. It has avoided the reimbursement radar and routinely uses regenerative products such as bone grafting technologies, resorbable collagen materials and other soft tissue matrices. In addition, a solid claim to the first stent ever is made by the Journal of the History of Dentistry and states that the English dentist Charles Stent created the first stent in 1856.¹