Dental industry ends 2025 on a high

Jeremy Booth, Dental Tribune International

Mon. 30. March 2026

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LEIPZIG, Germany: The fourth quarter of 2025 yielded signs of improvement in the North American dental market, including US distributor giant Henry Schein posting its highest growth in nearly four years, and confirmation of an uptick in diagnostics sales after three years of contraction. Despite a slowdown in implant treatments in China, the quarter was largely positive. However, since the results were delivered prior to the war in the Middle East, which has disrupted global energy networks and affected dental patient traffic across the region, they may not indicate a strong start to 2026. This article takes a closer look at how the four largest dental manufacturers performed during the period.

Align Technology celebrates 22 million aligners

At Align Technology, revenue for the fourth quarter reached US$1.05 billion (€892.50 million^*), up by 5.3% year on year. The company shipped 676,885 aligners during the period, a fourth-quarter record representing a 7.7% year-on-year gain.

According to the company’s earnings statement, sales of orthodontic appliances and devices were stable in North America and strong in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions. Align earned US$838.15 million from aligner sales, a 5.5% year-on-year increase. Revenues from imaging systems and CAD/CAM services reached US$209.42 million, a 4.2% year-on-year gain that reflected iTero Lumina intra-oral scanner volume gains and upgrades.

Income for the full year totalled US$4.03 billion, which represented a flat year-on-year comparison. This included US$3.25 billion earned from Invisalign, and US$789.56 million earned from imaging systems and CAD/CAM services.

John F. Morici, chief financial officer and executive vice-president of global finance at Align, said in the earnings statement that the fourth quarter “was a good finish to the year, with results that came in better than expected and reflect the continued strength of our business fundamentals”. Morici added that the company was encouraged by dental market conditions, being cautiously optimistic despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.

In the fourth quarter, Align shipped aligners to its 22 millionth patient. Teens and children have accounted for 6.5 million of the total aligner treatments delivered by the company. The lucrative market for treating younger orthodontic patients helped to stabilise Align during turbulent dental market conditions that began with the SARS‑CoV‑2 pandemic, and the company has managed to sustain growth in this area. CEO Joseph M. Hogan said that 935,800 teens and children underwent Invisalign treatment in 2025—7.8% more than the previous year.

Envista Holdings notes diagnostics uptick

Envista Holdings Corp. reported US$750.6 million in sales for the fourth quarter, indicating a core sales growth of 10.8% year on year.^** Eric Hammes, Envista’s chief financial officer, told analysts in an earnings call that year-on-year sales growth was recorded across the company’s business units, albeit against a weak comparable quarter last year in its China and global diagnostics businesses. Hammes cited above-average performance in North America implant sales during the period, particularly in the categories of digital and regenerative implant solutions. Further improvements in the company’s North American business were observed in the area of diagnostics, which recorded a third consecutive quarter of sales growth.

“Last year, we described the dental market as slow but stable. On balance, that’s still the best descriptor.”—Paul Keel, CEO, Envista

Envista posted sales of US$2.7 billion for the full year, representing 6.5% core sales growth. CEO Paul Keel said that the growth was broad-based and spread across the portfolio.

Speaking about the international dental market in the same earnings call, Keel commented: “Across most of last year, we described the dental market as slow but stable. On balance, that’s still the best descriptor, although we are beginning to see some signs of market improvement.”

He added: “For example, the North American diagnostic market returned to growth in [the second half of the year], and [the fourth quarter] was the third straight quarter where all of our businesses posted positive growth. As we’re a top three player in all of our categories, the breadth and consistency of our performance should be a positive signal for the broader market as well.”

Straumann weathers second-half slowdown in China

Fourth-quarter sales at Straumann Group totalled CHF 655.0 million (€704.7 million^*), up by 1.5% year on year—7.0% on an organic basis.^** During the period, the company’s business expanded in the EMEA region, which accounted for nearly half of all Straumann’s fourth-quarter revenue, and declined in Asia-Pacific. For the full year, Straumann reported CHF 2.6 billion in revenue, up by 4.1%.

Fourth-quarter EMEA sales of CHF 299.9 million were up by 13.2%, driven by strong momentum in Germany and Austria and the Benelux and Iberian dental markets. In Latin America, sales of CHF 60.8 million represented a 17.9% gain, boosted by implant sales in Brazil, the region’s top performer.

The CHF 170.3 million banked from sales in North America represented organic sales growth of 6.8% and a decline of 2.7% in Swiss francs. During the period, macroeconomic conditions in the market remained uncertain, Straumann said; however, resilient demand for implant solutions and returns from the company’s investment in its dental support organisation business offered sequential improvement.

In Asia-Pacific—an increasingly decisive market for major dental manufacturers—Straumann’s sales of CHF 123.9 million represented a drop of 19.3%. Straumann’s sales in the region had experienced a rare dip in the prior quarter, and the latest earnings result confirmed a prolonged slowdown in implant sales in China. The country’s volume-based procurement has helped implant manufacturers to move vast volumes of product; however, delays in the procurement process have restricted patient flow and led to destocking.

Speaking with analysts in an earnings call, Straumann CEO Guillaume Daniellot said that the company was on track with its business in China, where 7% growth was recorded over the full year. He said that the company was focused on its core and growth market segments. Of the estimated CHF 6.1 billion annual global implant market, Straumann holds a share of 35%, Daniellot said. He added that the company was expanding its share of the CHF 1.3 billion regenerative solutions market—it currently holds 13%—and aiming to grow its orthodontics sales to capture a greater portion of the global orthodontics market. Straumann holds less than 5% of the market’s estimated value of CHF 4.9 billion.

News reports in March indicated that the ongoing war in the Middle East may broadly affect the performance of global dental markets in the first quarter. (Image: Dragana Gordic/Adobe Stock)

Dentsply Sirona slashes net loss

Net sales at Dentsply Sirona in the fourth quarter reached US$961 million, up by 6.2% year on year. The US dental giant made progress in its goal of returning to profitability, despite bearing a US$153 million charge for goodwill and intangible asset impairment. It posted a net loss of US$145 million—substantially lower than its US$428 million loss a year earlier. Mike Pomeroy, interim chief financial officer, told analysts in an earnings call that the charge was related to volume declines and the impact of tariffs within the company’s connected technology solutions (CTS) and orthodontic and implant solutions (OIS) businesses.

CTS sales reached US$299 million, a 1.8% increase; sales of essential dental solutions (EDS) reached US$372 million, up by 7.8%; and those of OIS totalled US$202 million, a gain of 9.8%. Strong results were recorded in the US, where CTS and EDS sales increased by 9.0% and 3.7%, respectively, and where OIS sales increased by 52.2%. In Europe, sales of CTS were flat, at 0.9% growth, sales of EDS recorded an 8.6% increase and OIS sales increased by 3.6%. Cumulative sales for all other markets were less buoyant. EDS sales climbed by 12.0%, and sales of CTS and OIS declined by 3.2% and 16.8%, respectively.

Dental implants are a key pillar of Dentsply Sirona’s growth strategy. Pomeroy said that single-digit growth of implant sales had been recorded in China in the first half of the year, followed by a double-digit decline precipitated by the build-up to China’s second phase of volume-based procurement in 2026.

Net sales for 2025 at Dentsply Sirona were US$3.68 billion, down by 3% compared with the previous year. Net loss for the full year was US$598 million compared with a US$910 million net loss in 2024.

Addressing analysts in a conference call, CEO Daniel Scavilla said that the results were in line with the leadership’s expectations. Pointing to the work ahead, he said that the company was undergoing a focused transformation, “not a short-term reset”, and that it would “strengthen execution and deliver sustained profitable growth”.