Market Will See Intensifying Competition From Lower-Priced Products, According to Millennium Research Group

According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, the European market for dental implants will grow slowly through 2016. Since reimbursement for dental implants is limited, and most expenses are out-of-pocket, this market has been strongly affected by the economic downturn, particularly in Italy and Spain. The overall market will contract in 2012 and then slowly resume growth.

“While value-priced devices are significant, premium-priced devices will still support the revenues of the big players”

In response to economic conditions, many dentists have switched to lower-priced products, allowing them to provide more affordable implants and thus continue to perform procedures and maintain profit margins. Opportunities at this lower-priced end of the market have attracted smaller low-cost players from outside of Europe, including MIS Implants Technologies of Israel and OSSTEM IMPLANT and MegaGen of South Korea. Similar to many of the emerging European competitors, these companies also offer low-cost products but combine them with training programs, which promote brand loyalty.

While the overall European dental implant market remains dominated by three large multinationals, Straumann, Nobel Biocare, and DENTSPLY Friadent, increasing market fragmentation has reduced their combined market share to just over 40 percent. Many European dental professionals run their own practices and make their own purchasing decisions, making direct sales strategies important in acquiring and maintaining market share, and value-priced manufacturers are gaining share.

“While value-priced devices are significant, premium-priced devices will still support the revenues of the big players,” said MRG Manager Deanna Vankessel. “For example, custom-milled abutment revenues will grow at nearly seven percent per year through 2016, making these the fastest-growing products in the final abutment segment. The premium price of these products will allow them to generate nearly the same proportion of revenues in 2016 as cement-retained abutments, which represent the traditional abutment choice in Europe.”

Millennium Research Group’s European Markets for Dental Implants 2012 report includes procedure, unit, average selling price and revenue information, along with market drivers and limiters and competitive landscape for dental implant fixtures, final abutments and other dental implant tools sold in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.