Dental 3D Printing Market is Expanding 20% Annually

The worldwide dental 3D printing market has lots of reasons to smile: It is worth an estimated $2.8 Billion (2022) and is growing 20% annually.
 
Medi-Tech Insights attributes the sector’s healthy expansion to the continual push to digitize dental practices, increasing dental diseases, and the growth in group practices.

Dental 3D printing is a fast-growing field and its applications include design of physical models for prosthodontics, production of drill guides, orthodontics and surgery, and manufacture of dental implants, among others. The trend towards digital dentistry is one of the major tailwinds for the uptake of dental 3D printing.
 
3D-printing is a part of the digital workflow that is becoming more common in the dental practices. A dentist performs an intra-oral scan on the patient and electronically sends a digital copy of the scan to a dental lab. The technician can then design 3D model as soon as the copy of the scan received. 3D models designed this way are more stable, durable and precise compared to traditional/milled models. Dental 3D printing has increased the laboratory output, reduced fabrication and overall patient treatment time.
 
Group dental practices are growing rapidly, especially in developed markets. According to the latest data from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute, there has been a downward trend in solo​ practitioners in the United States. In 1999, 65% of the U.S. dentists ran solo practices which decreased to 50% in 2019. Group practice offer economies of scale, greater cash flow, ability to survive a downturn, and flexibility to cater to patient needs. It increases purchasing power and enable investments in advanced technologies such as digital scanners and dental 3D printing equipment.
 
Dental caries is a common disease in all age groups, leading to a high incidence of decayed and missing teeth. In 2019, about 65% of adults aged above 18 years of age had a dental examination or dental cleaning procedure, CDC data show. Roughly 120 million U.S. residents are missing at least one tooth, according to the American College of Prosthodontists. The number of partially edentulous patients is expected to increase to more than 200 million in the next 15 years. Single crowns are increasingly used to replace a missing tooth. The American College of Prosthodontists estimates that more than 2.3 million implant-supported crowns are made annually in the United States. Increased usage of 3D printing to design such crowns and implants will drive the market growth.
 
North America has a major market share of global dental 3D printing revenues owing to the large number of dental practices, high expenditure on oral care, better adoption of digital 3D printing, and greater availability of skilled technicians.
 
As a key growth strategy, companies working in the dental 3D printing market are focusing on launching new and advanced products. For instance, In June 2021, 3Shape launched 3Shape Dental System 2021 software. The new version of the software includes optimized workflows for removable partial and full dentures, and implant bridges. In March 2021, Stratasys launched J5 DentaJet 3D printer, which enables technicians to load mixed trays of dental parts. The new 3D printer can produce five times more dental parts on a single mixed tray than competitive 3D printers.
 
Key players operating in the global dental 3D printing market are 3D Systems, 3Shape, Stratasys, Formlabs, Roland DG Corporation, EnvisionTEC, Medit, Carestream, Vatech, GC America, HenrySchein, Align Technology Inc., Planmeca OY, Prodways Group, Carbon, Inc., Concept Laser, EOS GmbH, BASF, Evonik, Dentsply Sirona Inc., SprintRay Inc., Zortrax, DMG America, 3Dresyns, and Micron Dental, among others.