Dental industry focuses on what it can control

Jeremy Booth, Dental Tribune International

Wed. 28. May 2025

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LEIPZIG, Germany: Major dental manufacturers have begun the year with cautious optimism and an ear to the ground. The first financial quarter of 2025 did not feature a substantial improvement in dental sales in North America, as many had hoped it would. Instead, growth solidified in Germany, China and Latin America. As dental markets continued to adjust to their newfound degree of volatility, President Donald Trump’s remaking of US economic policy in his own image did little to boost patient or investor confidence.

Envista prepares for orthodontic realignment in China

At Envista Holdings in the first quarter, net revenue decreased by 1.1% year on year to US$617 million (€570 million*). The parent company of more than 30 dental brands posted modest sales declines for its two dental business units. Revenue from dental products and technologies fell by 2.1% to US$400 million, and those of dental equipment and consumables grew by 0.8% to US$217 million.  

President and CEO Paul Keel said in the company’s quarterly report that the results were in line with expectations and represented a “solid start” to the year. He explained to analysts in an earnings call that the dental industry had been “generally stable” and more resilient than the general economy during the period. “While US consumer confidence indices have deteriorated since the start of the year, we did not see this manifest in our [first-quarter] results,” Keel pointed out. 

Eric Hammes, chief financial officer at the company, highlighted several positive trends from the period, including an increase in international sales of dental consumables and a second consecutive quarter of growth in premium dental implants sales in the US. Sales of orthodontic products were strong, except in China, where they declined owing to the impending rollout of volume-based procurement (VBP) of orthodontic appliances. 

China’s volume-based procurement policy is paying off for some of the largest dental manufacturers. (Image: GaroManjikian/Shutterstock)

In 2018, China began testing how it could reduce domestic drug prices via bulk purchasing agreements. The policy has progressed to include a variety of drugs and medical devices. Now entering its third year, VBP of dental implants has radically smoothed out cost barriers to implant therapy. Although only scant information is available publicly, Keel confirmed that China is preparing to add orthodontic appliances to the growing list of medicines and medical devices now bought in bulk by regional health authorities. Keel explained: “[VBP for orthodontics is] progressing in line with what we expected. The Chinese government is getting good at this, having gone through multiple categories. To give you a little detail on that, we expected that they would break orthodontics into two distinct but related processes, one for the procedure cost and then one for the supply cost.” Keel said that the first process was already underway in multiple provinces and that VBP of orthodontic appliances would likely begin in the second half of this year. 

Envista’s strong position in brackets and archwires in China makes it more likely that it will benefit from the changes. Keel explained: “As we saw with [dental] implants, the larger market share players going in tend to get even stronger coming out, provided they have the capabilities to compete in the new environment. We saw that in our implants business. While there was certainly a material impact on price—down in the 40%-plus range—there was a large increase in volume.” Given the changes taking place, Envista expects weaker orthodontic sales in China in the short term.  

The company’s Chinese dental implant business accounts for between 5% and 10% of its total revenue, and Envista has been incurring trade tariffs on the import of its US-manufactured stock. At the end of the first quarter, the company was in the process of retooling its manufacturing facility in Sweden to produce dental implants destined for sale in China and thereby skirt the added tax. “We expect that to take a couple of months to get fully implemented,” Keel said. 

Growth returns slowly at Dentsply Sirona

At US$879 million, net sales at Dentsply Sirona in the first quarter were down by 7.7% year on year. Those in the US declined by 15.2%, and those in Europe and all other combined markets declined by 3.4% and 2.8%, respectively. In contrast, sales in Germany—Dentsply Sirona’s second-largest market after the US—increased for the third consecutive quarter. 

Dentsply Sirona CEO Simon Campion had previously spoken of “green shoots in several areas” offering respite from a sequence of challenging quarters, and the company did return to organic sales growth outside of the US during the period. For its markets in Europe and the rest of the world, organic sales growth reached 1.1% and 3.1%, respectively; however, it decreased by 14.9% in the US, owing largely to a 9.8% sales decline attributed to the cancellation of the Byte aligner system and brand. The company’s segmented results showed declines in all areas of its dental business, totalling 4.7% for connected technology solutions, 2.7% for essential dental solutions and 20.0% for orthodontic and implant solutions.  

Campion told analysts in an earnings call that the results of an April customer survey indicated that major dental markets remained mostly unchanged from 2024 in terms of patient volume and procedure utilisation. He added: “Not surprisingly, we saw a drop in US sentiment, with about half expressing concern or expecting impact from the rapidly changing economic conditions and the potential implications [for] patient footfall and treatment acceptance rates.” 

Aligner shipments increase at Align Technology

First-quarter revenue at Align Technology fell by 1.8% year on year to US$980 million. Sales of imaging systems and CAD/CAM services reached US$182 million, up by 1.2%, and the company’s aligner sales of US$797 million represented a 2.5% drop. Aligner shipments numbered 642,300 cases, an increase of 6.2% year on year. CEO Joseph Hogan told analysts in an earnings call that the fiscal year had begun well for Align. He explained that the company had shipped a record number of aligners for both teenage and adult patients and that a modest increase in sales of imaging systems and CAD/CAM services reflected the continued adoption of the iTero scanner. 

“All of us are aware of the global economic uncertainty and the headwinds that tariffs or changes in the consumer sentiment might bring”— Joseph Hogan, CEO, Align Technology

The CEO provided an update on the effect of trade tariffs, identifying the manufacture and sale of iTero intra-oral scanners as the most vulnerable link in the company’s supply chain. He said: “We are in China for China [...] We don’t see much of an impact there, if anything. We are good with Mexico right now. We feel pretty solid on that. And our Poland plant is fully operational and working well in Europe. I guess the only issue we really have is iTero; a lot of the shipments are coming out of Israel.” The US currently has a baseline tariff of 10% on goods imported from Israel, and Align Technology estimated that that baseline tariff is costing the company around US$1 million per month. 

“All of us are aware of the global economic uncertainty and the headwinds that tariffs or changes in the consumer sentiment might bring,” Hogan said, and he emphasised that Align was focused on what it could control. 

Straumann Group keeps growing in Asia-Pacific

Straumann Group’s revenue in the first quarter totalled CHF 681 million (€714 million*), an increase of 10% year on year. The dental implant specialist once again posted sales growth in all regions. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, earnings of CHF 280 million represented a gain of 10% and were attributed to a “strong growth trajectory” in Germany and growth in sales in Italy, Spain and Belgium.  

Asia-Pacific yielded sales worth CHF 162 million, representing 24% growth despite a daunting year-on-year comparison. One year earlier, Straumann’s sales in the region had grown by 63.7%. The company once again benefited from China’s VBP of dental implants. The company said that the initiative was having a “long-lasting structural impact” on its sales in the region.  

Sales in North America increased by 4.1% to CHF 185 million amid continued soft trends in the US implants market. Sales in Latin America, at CHF 53 million, represented 3.9% growth, this increase being mainly attributable to strong sales in Brazil and Mexico. 

CEO Guillaume Daniellot said in an earnings statement that he was pleased with the results. He commented: “While macroeconomic uncertainties continue to impact businesses globally, we are well positioned—both in terms of our diversified portfolio and broad geographic presence—to build on our strengths and drive long-term success.”

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