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Orthodontic Market - Growth Trends
Some of the trends driving growth in the orthodontic market are the rise of cheaper mail-order teeth aligners and the increasing use of clear alignments among teenagers.
RISE OF CHEAPER MAIL-ORDER TEETH ALIGNERS
- Mail-order teeth aligners (tele orthodontics), unlike clear aligners such as Invisalign, do not necessarily require a physical visit to an orthodontist.
- SmileDirectClub (SDC) is one of the key companies boasting of a 90% market share of mail-order teeth aligners. Other startups in the space include Candid Co., SmileLove, and SnapCorrect.
- SmileDirectClub is currently valued at $8 billion and Justin Ishbia, a managing partner at Shore Capital Partners, says that it the trend mainly driven by the selfie phenomenon.
- Forbes noted that SmileDirectClub as "a true Megatrends IPO" as seen in its revenue growth and social media engagement.
- SDC's revenue grew seven-fold from 2016 to 2017, then tripled from 2017 to 2018, and currently on track to more than double in 2019.
- Currently, the company has 360,000 followers on Instagram, which shows a 20% growth in three months, and 531,000 likes on Facebook. The company also boasts very high review ratings of 4.9/5 and an extraordinarily high Net Promoter Score of 57.
- These are also cheaper options compared to both clear aligners by Invisalign and by traditional options from an orthodontist which cost $3,000 to $8,000 each. SmileDirectClub total cost is between $1,850 and $2,265 and Candid.Co costs between $1,850-$2,265.
TEENAGERS ARE INCREASINGLY USING CLEAR ALIGNERS
- Invisalign, which has 80% market share in the clear aligners market, noted that from 2013 to 2017, the number of teenagers using their product grew from 100,000 to 230,000. The company further says that teen and tween sales volume grew faster than that of the adults in the past two years.
- Overall, the American Association of Orthodontists estimates that there are 4.3 million patients aged 17 years old and younger who were treated in North America in 2016, which is a 66% increase since 1989.
- Market Realist noted that 75% of both the Served Available Market (SAM) and Total Available Market (TAM) of the existing Orthodontics market is made up of teenagers. Align Technologies was able to capitalize on this trend, and the company has a 7% market share of SAM.
- The New York Times mentioned that consumer demand, direct to consumer advertising, and a strong culture of social media among teens are the main factors behind the increased use of clear aligners among teenagers.
OTHER HELPFUL FINDINGS
Faster Orthodontic Treatment
- Propel, AcceleDent, and OrthoPulse are some companies that use newer technologies to reduce orthodontic treatment time.
- Propel Excellerator is an FDA-approved handheld device that can reduce treatment time by half. It bores small holes around the root to stimulate bone movement.
- Orthopulse, on the other hand, uses photobiomodulation around the root to accelerate tooth movement.
RESEARCH STRATEGY:
We started by searching for the data on industrial and market reports such as Markets and Research regarding the market trends around the orthodontic market as a whole, as well as market reports on subsegments such as fixed metal braces and invisible aligners. However, reports found are locked behind paywalls, and the scope is global. This research path also out found that paywalled sites which contain market trends have a global scope.
Next, we tried to search for specific trends such as better technologies and companies that have tremendous growth recently. We were able to find companies such as SmileDirectClub and found that mail-order teeth aligners really changed the orthodontic landscape. This source also shows the technologies that are trending in the orthodontic space such as 3D imaging, self-ligating and clear invisible braces, and faster orthodontic treatments. Align Technologies has been using 3D imaging and clear invisible braces in the past decade, and we couldn't find metrics regarding the usage or the popularity of faster orthodontic treatments that is why we didn't include them as main trends, but we've provided them as part of our additional findings.
As our last resort, we searched for growth trends related to segmentation by product, by age, or by type whether fixed or clear alignments. We found out that teenagers are increasingly using clear alignment. We could not establish the growth trends between fixed and invisible aligners as the market size and share specific to the US were not available, and even paywalled sites have a global scope.