"A dental implant is equivalent to buying a BMW", "A dental implant is equivalent to buying a house in the county"... The problem that the price of dental implants makes people "prohibitive" has always attracted much attention.

　　For a period of time, the national centralized procurement policy for medical consumables such as cardiac stents and artificial joints has been implemented, and the price reduction effect is obvious.

　　What is the cost of dental implants?

Can centralized procurement quickly drive down the price of dental implants?

What policy support is needed to reduce the overall cost of dental implants?

Around these issues, the reporter conducted an investigation and interview.

Why is a tooth so expensive?

　　In the past six months, 35-year-old Liang Yuan has had 4 teeth planted.

"The treatment process is not over yet, and more than 60,000 yuan has been spent so far." Liang Yuan said frankly, "I can't afford it."

　　According to Huang Wei, a doctor at a top-three stomatological hospital in Beijing, there are three main types of restoration solutions for missing teeth, namely dental implants, fixed bridges and removable dentures.

"Dental implants are not only comparable in appearance and service life to real teeth, but also do not damage good teeth and have a good chewing taste, so they are favored by patients."

　　According to the "Dental Implant Industry In-depth Report" released by Guohai Securities in 2021, the number of dental implants in my country is growing rapidly, and the number will reach about 4 million in 2020, and the sales volume will increase by 28.2%.

　　The reporter called a number of public and private dental hospitals in Beijing to consult and learned that the average price of a single implant is about 20,000 yuan.

　　Lin Ye, a professor at the Department of Oral Implantology, Peking University Stomatological Hospital, said that the cost of dental implants is generally high in the world, and its cost composition generally includes four parts: the cost of implant materials, the cost of implant doctor's treatment technology, the cost of prosthetic processing materials and technology, Fixed cost of Physician treatment skills.

　　The reporter saw on the bill of a dental specialist hospital that the cost of a single dental implant mainly includes: the first stage surgery part, the implant is 2600 yuan, the healing abutment is 320 yuan, and the implant surgery fee is 4500 yuan; the second stage repair part, The repair abutment is 1500 yuan, the technician fee (crown making) is 2450 yuan, and the repair treatment fee is 4050 yuan.

　　It is not difficult to find that, in addition to the cost of consumables such as implants, the treatment costs such as surgery fees and repair treatment fees account for the bulk of the cost of dental implants.

　　Lin Ye said that public medical institutions undertake implant treatment for complex anatomical conditions and difficult cases, and have higher requirements for implant professionals. The training cycle of a professional dental implant clinician usually takes more than 10 years, and the cost of education is high.

Among the operating costs of private oral medical institutions, the labor cost and the cost of renting the space for doctors are generally higher than the cost of the dental implant material itself.

Can centralized procurement squeeze out the price "moisture"?

　　In recent years, the reform of centralized procurement of medicines and high-value medical consumables has been continuously advanced.

The previous executive meeting of the State Council pointed out that it is necessary to gradually expand the coverage of centralized procurement of high-value medical consumables, and conduct centralized procurement at the national and provincial levels for orthopedic consumables, drug balloons, and dental implants that are of concern to the public.

　　"Centralized procurement can integrate the amount of purchase objects, and medical institutions can declare the total amount. Through centralized procurement with volume, 'quantity for price' can be realized." Deputy Director of the Medical Security and Nursing Security Research Office of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences , Associate researcher Wang Yanyan told reporters.

　　There are various indications that dental implants are getting closer and closer to centralized procurement.

　　In November last year, the Sichuan Provincial Pharmaceutical Equipment Centralized Purchasing and Pharmaceutical Price Supervision Platform issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Information Collection of Some Oral High-value Medical Consumables", which intends to collect information on some oral high-value medical consumables.

　　The reporter learned that in addition to Sichuan, Zhejiang, Ningxia and other places have also successively carried out the filling and reporting of historical procurement data of dental medical consumables. These basic data will provide the basis for local centralized procurement pilots.

　　At the State Council's regular policy briefing held by the State Council Information Office on February 11, Chen Jinfu, deputy director of the National Medical Insurance Bureau, said that the National Medical Insurance Bureau will start deployment in early 2021, and Sichuan will organize an inter-provincial alliance to study dental implants. The procedures were adopted and the opinions of clinics, enterprises and localities were widely listened to. At present, the scheme is basically mature.

　　"From the current policy point of view, the procurement objects in the centralized procurement of implants are mainly implants and other consumables, and the centralized procurement can reduce the cost of this part." Wang Yanyan said.

　　Lin Ye believes that the inclusion of dental implant consumables in centralized procurement will inevitably improve the efficiency of procurement funds, reduce the cost of consumables, and may reduce the treatment costs of some brands of dental implants, benefiting the common people.

"But we must also correctly understand the centralized procurement policy to avoid high expectations of the people. The centralized procurement is only for the cost of materials such as implants, and does not involve other costs. Just like after the centralized procurement of cardiac stents, the cost of consumables is about 700 yuan, but the total cost of surgical treatment. It still needs about 20,000 yuan.”

　　In addition, Wang Yanyan also said that the current dental implant market is mainly dominated by private institutions, which have a large market share, but their willingness to participate in centralized procurement is not yet clear. If the "small volume" of public medical institutions may affect their price reductions .

The overall decline in the price of dental implants still needs many efforts

　　Supporting the development of outstanding national brand implant companies has always been regarded as an important way to reduce the price of dental implants.

　　This year, Yu Xinwei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also mentioned in the proposal to break the import barriers of dental implant consumables and speed up the replacement of domestic brands; strengthen the combination of production, education and research, and encourage the integration of oral science and emerging industries.

　　At the regular briefing on policies of the State Council, Chen Jinfu also said that centralized procurement will gradually improve the market-led price formation mechanism through open and transparent competition methods, guide enterprises to strengthen quality, actively carry out product research and development, and promote high-quality development of the industry.

　　It is understood that at present, there are more than 50 imported dental implant products in the Chinese market, and only 20 domestic brands.

　　Huang Wei confirmed to reporters that domestic implant technology is still in its infancy. Because it has not been supported by long-term clinical observations and valid data, its reliability is relatively weak, and hospitals rarely use domestic implants.

　　"Compared with imported implants, the registration and approval procedures of domestic brand implants are complicated, the cycle is long, and registration takes at least 3 years, causing some domestic companies to be reluctant to invest in dental products, and there are fewer domestic brand products." Lin Ye added.

　　In order to further reduce the price of dental implants, the training and supply of dental medical staff must also keep up as soon as possible.

According to industry analysts, with the continuous expansion of the medical talent team, the number of dental medical talents will get rid of "barrenness" and the supply and demand of talents in the oral market will tend to balance, so as to gradually reduce the cost of treatment.

　　In addition, Wang Yanyan said that my country is currently establishing a basic medical insurance outpatient mutual aid security system for employees. Faced with the need to appropriately expand the scope of personal account payment, it can be considered to reasonably pay the cost of dental implants from the medical insurance personal account. Currently, Ningbo has piloted.

In the long run, dental implant protection can be entrusted to commercial insurance in the multi-level medical security system, and commercial insurance develops reasonable products for protection.

　　Zhang Jing/Workers Daily