China-Singapore Jingwei Client, February 26 (Lin Wansi) 19-year-old Xiaolin has always been dissatisfied with her "big rabbit teeth". Every time she laughs, she has to cover her protruding front teeth with her hands.
As the school starts, Xiaolin wants to use the last period of the winter vacation for orthodontic treatment. "Considering the aesthetics, I decided to do invisible orthodontics, or it will take more time after school starts."
On the morning of the 22nd, Xiaolin came to a dental hospital in Fengtai District, Beijing for orthodontics, but she did not expect that the entire orthodontic process would take two years, and a total of 60 sets of invisible braces would be replaced, costing 40,000 yuan.
The offer from a private dental hospital in Chaoyang District is as high as 90,000 yuan.
Xiaolin wondered, why is the cost of invisible orthodontics so high?
"I'm afraid of breaking the'Hermes in the mouth'"
The client of Sino-Singapore Jingwei visited some dental hospitals in Beijing and found that the orthodontic brands used by the dental clinics are mainly Time Angel and Invisible Beauty.
The cost of using Invisible Beauty for orthodontics ranges from 40,000 to 90,000 yuan. Choose Time Angel It also needs 10,000 to 40,000 yuan.
"
Although you can take it off and wear it at any time, you have to take it off when you eat, because you are afraid of chewing the 40,000 yuan'Hermes' in your mouth.
" In Xiaolin's view, the cost of invisible orthodontics is close to a low-profile Hermès bag. package.
In order not to discourage patients due to the high cost, many clinics have introduced Huabei installment payment for invisible correction. Even if the payment is made in 12 installments, at least 2,000 yuan is required for the first installment.
"Compared with the'steel teeth' brought by traditional orthodontics, invisible orthodontics is more beautiful." A consultant dentist at a dental chain in Fengtai, Beijing told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that the difference between the two orthodontic methods lies in traditional orthodontics. Metal braces are generally worn and can only be removed after the treatment. Invisible orthodontics generally requires multiple sets of braces, which are worn for a period of time and discarded, and then replaced with new braces.
Ma Liang, the former director of the Department of Stomatology of the Affiliated Hospital of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said in an interview with the Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that the number of replacement of invisible orthodontic braces is determined according to the degree of the patient’s tooth deformity and the length of the orthodontic period. “General orthodontics lasts one and a half years. Two years, every two weeks, the entire orthodontic process requires about 40 to 50 invisible braces."
Invisible orthodontics is also known as "the Hermes of oral cavity" because of its high price.
Zhongxin Jingwei browsed the official website of most dental clinics and found that the price of traditional orthodontic appliances ranges from 7,000 to 20,000 yuan, while the price of invisible orthodontic appliances is at least twice that of traditional orthodontic braces.
"The specific choice of brand still depends on the patient's dental situation. Although metal braces are still the majority, invisible braces have become more and more popular in recent years because of their aesthetics and comfort." said the aforementioned physician consultant.
According to the Insight Consulting report, China's overall invisible orthodontic market, the world's second largest market, is expected to increase its retail sales revenue from US$1.4 billion in 2019 to US$11.9 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.5%.
On January 29 this year, Age Angel, China’s first invisible orthodontic enterprise approved by the National Medical Products Administration, submitted a prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Goldman Sachs and CICC International as their joint sponsors.
Time Angel was established in 2003 and began to launch invisible orthodontic products in 2006.
At present, Angel of Ages has four types of invisible aligners, namely Angel of Age Standard Edition, Angel of Age Champion Edition, Angel of Age Children's Edition and COMFOS.
The prospectus shows that
the suggested retail prices of the four products are 32,000, 40,000, 26,000 and 24,000 respectively
.
Orthodontics poster.
Photo by Sino-Singapore Jingwei
Why is invisible orthodontics so expensive?
Invisible orthodontic braces not only involve a series of related fields such as clinical stomatology, biomechanics, material science, computer science and intelligent manufacturing technology (including 3D printing and automated manufacturing).
An analyst in the pharmaceutical industry of a securities company who did not want to be named told the Zhongxin Jingwei client that the cost of invisible orthodontics treatment accounts for a relatively large amount of doctors’ clinical experience.
Taking Yinshimei as an example, he said that the cost of raw materials is about 15,000 to 18,000 yuan, and the treatment cost accounts for a higher proportion, because the clinical experience of doctors is needed to treat patients.
"Private hospitals have flexible pricing. As first-tier cities gather more high-end medical institutions and senior doctors, the price of treatment is expected to be relatively higher."
Subdivided into the field of orthodontics, Ma Liang said that orthodontics is the most professional sub-discipline in the field of dentistry. After 2000, orthodontics has officially become a postgraduate course. An orthodontist usually needs to experience from undergraduate to master's degree and doctorate. It takes 5 to 6 years of training, but the graduate education itself enrolls a small number of students, and finally doctors' resources are even rarer.
According to the insight consultation report, in 2019, there were approximately 210,000 general dentists and 5,300 orthodontists in China, which is equivalent to 14.8 general dentists and 0.4 orthodontists per 100,000 people.
Ma Liang revealed that most of the income from the outpatient orthodontics business is invested in the cost of doctors. “When a top university medical department recruits undergraduates from the Department of Dentistry, a class can accept 35 students a year, but due to various reasons, the number of graduates It was about 30 people. Later, orthodontics officially became a postgraduate course, and each tutor could only accept 2 to 3 students a year. There were less than 20 students who graduated and engaged in orthodontics for various reasons. There are 20 or 30 universities across the country. How many people do you think will graduate and engage in the orthodontic industry?"
Tan Fuwen, Investment Research Director of the Nanning Sales Department of Shanxi Securities, pointed out in an interview with Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client that the
invisible orthodontic appliance industry is still in the early stage of the market with fewer competitors. Practitioners who target the high-end market and enter the market earlier can rely on innovation Technological advantages obtain larger profits.
Dental clinic information map.
Photo by Sino-Singapore Jingwei
Can orthodontics be cheaper in the future?
Behind the appearance anxiety caused by teeth, the tens of billions of invisible orthodontics market is growing rapidly.
Invisible orthodontics has also attracted the attention of many competitors. Brands such as Zhengya, SmileDirectClub, Straumann, DentsplySirona have concentrated on the Chinese invisible orthodontics market, but only occupy about 20% of the domestic market share.
Time Angel's prospectus shows that based on the number of completed cases in the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Time Angel leads the market with a market share of approximately 41.3% during the same period.
The market share of the first two major market participants totaled 82.3%, and the other invisible orthodontic leader is Align Technology's wholly-owned brand in China, "Invisible Beauty".
The aforementioned pharmaceutical analyst of the securities company who did not want to be named analyzed to the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that from the perspective of pricing and positioning, Yinshimei's products are relatively high-end, focusing more on the first and second-tier cities.
Time Angel's products are low, medium and high-end products. The high-end brand positioning is similar to Yinshimei. The first and second-tier products focus on the standard version and the champion version, and the low-end products occupy a higher market share in the third and fourth-tier cities.
He pointed out that with reference to the number of cases reached from January to September 2020 disclosed in the prospectus, the company's first-tier and second-tier cities focused on launching the standard version and champion version respectively accounting for about 50% and 20% of the total number of cases.
"
This also means that on the basis of continuous upgrading of the angel product line in the future era, it will also consider price-for-quantity, and moderately lower prices to cover more cases.
" The analyst said.
"
If the existing invisible braces technology is quickly popularized by the market, it will have a certain impact on the revenue and price advantages of leading invisible orthodontic companies. If you want to maintain a high market share, you should continue to increase R&D investment and innovate In order to maintain its market position.
" Tan Fuwen said.
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
(The opinions in the article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Investment is risky, and you need to be cautious when entering the market.)
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