The global dental services market, valued at $436.2 billion in 2018, will grow to around $630 billion in 2022 at an annual growth rate of more than 9.5%. The dental services market is driven by emerging trends and innovations such as laser dentistry, emotional dentistry, 3D tooth printing and 3D dental imaging technology.

Laser dentistry is being increasingly used by dentists around the world to efficiently carry out dental procedures such as teeth whitening, tooth decay removal, gums reshaping, and lesions eradication. Laser dentistry is a technique that uses lasers to remove or alter hard and soft tissues in a variety of dental procedures. In addition to increasing the efficiency of dental procedures, laser dentistry reduces the discomfort associated with the treatment, and the healing time for patients. Companies in the dental services market such as Apollo White Dental, Pacific Dental Services, and Great Expressions Dental are using laser dentistry.

Dentists around the world are increasingly using virtual mockups and digital photos that enable patients to visualize the results before undergoing the dental procedures. Referred to as ‘emotional dentistry,’ this procedure provides patients the benefit of trying out different ‘smiles’ before choosing the most appealing one. In addition, it allows dentists to plan the treatment procedure, obtain consistent aesthetic results, improve diagnosis and predictability of the condition, and have improved communication about patient’s expectations of the treatment. Furthermore, emotional dentistry reduces the time spent in the clinical and laboratory tests pertaining to inefficient diagnosis, and reduces costs for the patients. Companies such as The Aurum Group, WandDental Inc., Benco Dental, and Invisalign have collaborated with Digital Smile Design (DSD) to enable innovation and digitization in dentistry towards emotional dentistry.

3D tooth printing is another emerging trend in the dental services industry. 3D printing is the process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital model. 3D printers enable a replacement tooth to be created with an exacting and natural looking standard. 3D printing makes it possible to accelerate the manufacturing process of dentures. Using CAD/CAM technology (or computer-aided design and manufacturing), a dentist can measure a patient’s mouth once and quickly design and print a set of teeth in just two or three visits. Individual teeth can be 3D printed, too. A dentist can scan the shape and size of a patient’s natural tooth and print an exact copy from materials such as titanium and zirconia. This provides a completely customized alternative to traditional dental implants. This technology is already in use in the European Union, and is pending the Food and Drug Administration approval in the USA. Portions of teeth or corrective pieces, such as crowns, can also be custom printed. In 2015, 3D printing company Stratasys unveiled a high-end dental 3D printer, called the Objet260 Dental Selection, capable of printing out realistic teeth, gums and nerves in order to create lifelike models for dental specialists.