Dental industry sales decline for second consecutive year

The Australian market for dental products has declined for a second consecutive year, falling to $671 million in FY2011-12. This is one of many key findings contained within the Australian Dental Industry Intelligence Report published by the Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA), the peak representative body for suppliers of quality dental product.

"Over the course of the past decade the market for dental products has been robust, growing by an average of 6% a year over that period. However, the data shows a decline in sales of around 3% over each of the past two years which reflects feedback from front-line sales staff," said Troy Williams, ADIA Chief Executive Officer.

The falls were greatest in the dental equipment area which fell by around 12% over the last year. However, it is not all bad news, according to Mr Williams, when reflecting on orthodontic and restorative sales data.

"Sales of orthodontic and restorative products have bucked the downward trend seen across most product categories, rising by around 9% to $159 million last year," he said.

Never before has such data been made available. ADIA commissioned the Australian Dental Industry Intelligence Report in response to a demonstrated need for high-quality, verifiable data on the Australian market for dental products and services.

"The findings of the report and database will be invaluable to our members as it will allow to them to benchmark the performance of their business with confidence. Importantly, ADIA has provided a tool that helps members plan for the growth of their business," Mr Williams concluded.

The report outlines the methodology used to develop the database and analyses the historical trends. The database has good coverage of the majority of products and services and will be expanded as new data sources become available.

Access to the Australian Dental Industry Intelligence Report and report are available to ADIA members only.