What is a digital mouth? Have you ever had such a dental experience - when gritting your teeth, it can be difficult to endure the process, and in severe cases, you may even feel nauseous and vomit. Now, with the help of intraoral 3D scanning technology to provide accurate intraoral information and the use of 3D printing to quickly create 360 ° precise models, the patient's comfort level during the entire process is greatly improved. Creating a new terminal scenario for doctor-patient communication is the vivid practice of oral digitization - fast, accurate, and stable, truly realizing the "convenience" of every step of dental treatment.
Focusing on the three major sub fields of implantation, orthodontics, and restoration, the Huishan digital dental industry has emerged as a rising force, from 0 to 1 to N. It not only gathers various innovative resources, but also has diverse local support and broad development prospects.
01The "teeth" of the industry grow from here
Digital dentistry is the gene of Time Angel, "said Zheng Yan, Vice President of Time Angel Group. In today's increasingly youthful oral consumption, invisible orthodontic appliances made of elastic transparent polymer materials perfectly meet the aesthetic needs of young patients. The combination of the "beauty economy" and the "digital economy" has spurred market expansion. Currently, Time Angel has produced over 100 million invisible orthodontic appliances, with sales reaching approximately 1.4 billion yuan in 2023, ranking first in the country in terms of market share. Last year, Time Angel achieved its first victory in going global, with products exported to more than 30 countries and regions, and international business officially becoming Time Angel's new growth engine.
The fruitful results stem from daily efforts and persistence, as well as from an opportunity and a trend. Turning the clock back to 2009, Huishan Life Science and Technology Industrial Park was opened at that time. The following year, Time Angel, who was still in a difficult situation, moved its manufacturing center here. In just a few years, it stirred up a pool of spring water in the oral market with a small invisible braces.
The explosive and growth like this has shown us possibilities, "said Chen Yijun, the general manager of Huishan Life Park. At that time, in the Yangtze River Delta region, dental medical equipment products mainly relied on imports and were mostly stagnant in the mid to low end, without forming an industrial chain. Can we build a complete industry chain in the field of oral healthcare around the Angel of the Times in Huishan? The wind started at the end of Qingping, and after the idea was born, the park began to lay out its layout.
So, what attracts companies to gather in Huishan, a new industry track of "making something out of nothing"? Precise drip irrigation service, fast rooting of enterprises - full process tracking service, creating more carrying space for enterprise landing; Taking capital investment as the starting point, actively supporting the research and development, incubation of mid to early stage enterprises; The Huishan Service Station of the Evaluation Center of the Provincial Medical Products Administration and the Huishan Service Station of the Provincial Medical Device Inspection Institute provide dual station services to accelerate the review and approval process and promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements; Collaboration between schools and enterprises, connecting with vocational schools to customize classes, and solving the recruitment problem of dental industry workers. The professional, pragmatic, and efficient business environment is attracting more and more enterprises to come here.
In the blink of an eye, 14 years have passed. In the Huishan Life Park, a digital dental medical equipment industry cluster, represented by Era Angel, Gaofeng Medical, Emondi, Pugu Biotechnology, Heideman, Dingyuan Dental, Aoshimei, etc., has emerged, covering invisible orthodontics, artificial tooth implantation and materials, dental surgical instruments, oral disinfection and sterilization, and upstream and downstream supporting industrial chains.
020 → 1 → N, creating a billion yuan output value
The Chinese dental healthcare industry took only twenty years from its inception to maturity. With the increasing demand for teeth whitening, orthodontics, restoration, and implantation, both the adolescent and adult dental markets are thriving.
When domestic dental medicine was just starting out, Emondi was the first to introduce the internationally advanced RW orthodontic concept into the market. In the field of root canal treatment and correction, traditional brackets, orthodontic wires, invisible brackets, digital personalized customized orthodontic series products, as well as various root canal files, are all fully launched by Emondi products. At present, the market share of dental arch wires in enterprises has reached 80%. Our R&D team has over 30 people and owns more than 20 patents and software copyrights, "said Long Xiaoping, Chairman of Emondi. Based on strong R&D and technological capabilities, Emondi deepens cooperation between industry, academia, and research in the field of orthodontics. It has a dental training center called iFace Planet, which draws on the opinions and suggestions of orthodontic experts and clinical doctors for product development. With a combination of software and hardware, digital diagnosis and treatment analysis, as well as auxiliary treatment technology, Emondi helps oral orthodontics to be more precise and efficient.
As imported brands gain a first mover advantage in the domestic implant market, domestic implants are also catching up. Under the wave of localization, last year, the Shuiqing Medical R&D and Production Headquarters project with a total investment of 300 million yuan landed in Huishan, and its surface treatment technology for implants has obtained independent intellectual property rights domestically. When it comes to the vision of domestic substitution, Jiang Shuiqing, Chairman of Shuiqing Medical, said, "The cost of planting a tooth in China is very high now, with a cost of tens of thousands of yuan per tooth. If domestic implantation can be achieved, the price is about 1/4 of imports." After the project is completed and put into operation, the annual output of implants and accessories will be about 1 million sets, and the estimated annual sales total will be 500 million yuan. It is reported that the first type of medical device products of the enterprise will start production in the near future, and the third type of medical devices are expected to be produced and put into use next year.
From 0 to 1 to N, Huishan has gathered more than 20 digital dental medical device enterprises, with nearly 2000 employees and a production value of 2 billion yuan.
03Next stop, the Yangtze River Delta Dental Valley
As a subdivision track of the Huishan Three New Four Industry Cluster, Huishan has drawn a bigger blueprint for the digital dental industry: with the goal of creating the "Yangtze River Delta Dental Valley", accelerating the construction of the dental medical device innovation center, gathering high-quality enterprises, high-end talents, and cutting-edge technology in the dental industry, helping Huishan's digital dental characteristic industry chain to continuously extend and strengthen, and leading the innovative development of the dental medical device industry in the Yangtze River Delta region. By the time the project is completed, the goal is to have 50 settled enterprises with an output value exceeding 10 billion yuan.
Huishan has firm confidence in building the "Yangtze River Delta Tooth Valley". On the one hand, in terms of the completeness of the industrial chain, Huishan is at the forefront of the Yangtze River Delta region. In the field of implantation, Gaofeng Medical has developed system products such as implants, dental crowns, abutments, etc., including implant tools used by doctors, with advanced technology and complete production lines. On the other hand, the entry of leading enterprises such as Era Angel, Peak Medical, and Emondi has made the Matthew effect of aggregation more apparent, which will drive more upstream and downstream enterprises to enter one after another.
In the future, more and more digital dental enterprises will gather in Huishan, and new quality productivity will surge here.
Text: Sun Jingjing
Image source: Huishan Life Park
Editor: Sun Jingjing
Review: Ding Lei
