Northeast Asia: dental markets

Markets

• Taiwan
• Japan
• South Korea

At a glance

Tier-1 snapshot

Completeness

• Taiwan: 11 of 12 expected metrics have a value, 1 documented nulls, 0 not yet collected
• Japan: 12 of 12 expected metrics have a value, 0 documented nulls, 0 not yet collected
• South Korea: 8 of 12 expected metrics have a value, 4 documented nulls, 0 not yet collected

Documented gaps

Reasons: No figure found (gap): we searched and found nothing; Not applicable (structural): the measure does not exist or does not apply there; Source blocked (blocked_source): a source exists but could not be read; Not published (not_published): the authorities do not publish it.

Taiwan

• Dental hygienists total: structural. Structural null (DECISIONS L8): dental hygienist is not a licensed profession in Taiwan, so no register count exists. Dental hygienist is not a separate licensed category in the clinic personnel dataset columns reviewed. Confirmed 2026-11-09: also absent from MOHW table 1.7 (end-2025) and table 1.4 (licences issued);… (record)
• DSO share of dental clinics (%): not_published. No ownership-form split of dental clinics is published. MOHW table 1.6 splits clinics public/non-public only (dental: 1 public, 7,127 non-public). Chain/corporate dental groups exist but no official count. (record)
• Implant procedures annual: gap. Searched NHIA annual report, MOHW statistics tables and web search (2026-11-09). Implants are self-pay and not billed to NHI, so insurer claims give no count; no MOHW or association national count found. Implant makers and TDA surveys not accessible. (record)
• Clear aligner cases annual: gap. Orthodontics is self-pay in Taiwan (not billed to NHI), so no insurer data. Align Technology filings report APAC totals only; no Taiwan figure from a primary source was found. (record)
• Self-pay share of dental spend (%): blocked_source. MOHW National Health Expenditure report for 2023 exists (published Feb 2025) but the PDF link returned 404 and the dental-by-financing split was not located. Known: NHI dental outpatient global budget 2024 = NT$52.037 billion (payer budget only). (record)
• Total dental spend (US$): not_published. Only the NHI dental outpatient budget (NT$52.037 billion, 2024) is public; total dental spending including self-pay (implants, orthodontics, dentures, cosmetic) is not published in sources fetched. Not converted to USD to avoid presenting a payer budget as total spend. See Proposed metrics. (record)
• Intraoral scanners installed: not_published. No national census of intraoral scanner installed units exists in MOHW/TFDA/TDA public statistics reviewed; only vendor-confidential data. MOHW table 1.6 (hazardous medical equipment counts is table 1.1, not reviewed for dental devices). (record)
• Chairside cadcam installed base: not_published. No national census of chairside CAD/CAM system installed units exists in MOHW/TFDA/TDA public statistics reviewed; only vendor-confidential data. MOHW table 1.6 (hazardous medical equipment counts is table 1.1, not reviewed for dental devices). (record)
• Dental 3d printer installed base: not_published. No national census of dental 3D printer installed units exists in MOHW/TFDA/TDA public statistics reviewed; only vendor-confidential data. MOHW table 1.6 (hazardous medical equipment counts is table 1.1, not reviewed for dental devices). (record)
• Adult OSA prevalence (%): gap. Chou et al. 2023 report 69.5% OSAS in 1,372 ENT-clinic patients aged 30-70 (home sleep test) - a referred clinical sample, not population prevalence, so not recorded. A modelled national estimate (23.6% for ages 30-69, Benjafield et al.) was seen only inside a secondary snippet and was not fetched; and a 2.6% older… (record)
• Oral appliance reimbursement: gap. No NHI payment item for mandibular advancement / oral appliances for sleep apnea found in NHIA annual report or fee-schedule dental chapter skimmed; only trade-press says NHI covers surgery. Not verified against NHI medical-service payment standard (non-dental chapters, device codes). Treat as unknown, probable… (record)

Japan

• DSO share of dental clinics (%): gap. No reliable public estimate. Medical-corporation ownership (25.7% of dental clinics, MHLW 2024) is the closest official proxy but is a legal form, not a DSO/chain measure. (record)
• Implant procedures annual: not_published. No national count found. Searches of MHLW, JSOI journal and Survey of Dental Diseases returned only prevalence in older adults (3.8% of age 65+ in 2016, cited second-hand) and clinic-level studies. Implants are outside the insurance schedule so no claims data exist. (record)
• Clear aligner cases annual: gap. No reliable public estimate. Orthodontics is largely uninsured; no official or association count found. Company disclosures (Align) cover APAC only. (record)
• Total dental spend (US$): gap. FY2023 (Apr 2023-Mar 2024). Not recorded in USD: MHLW national medical expenditure covers insured care only; dental medical expenditure FY2023 = 3,294.5 billion yen (6.9% of 48,091.5 billion yen). Propose a local-currency metric (see gaps/JP.md). (record)
• Intraoral scanners installed: gap. No unit count. Only a penetration survey exists: 70.7% IOS utilisation among 260 implant-society dentists in two branches (J Jpn Soc Oral Implantol 39(2):156-163, 2026-06-30), not nationally representative. Propose metric ios_penetration_pct_dentists. (record)
• Chairside cadcam installed base: gap. No reliable public estimate found (CAD/CAM crowns are insured since 2014/2024 revisions but no installed-base count was located). (record)
• Dental 3d printer installed base: gap. No reliable public estimate found. (record)

South Korea

• Dental hygienists total: blocked_source. No reliable public figure retrieved. Licensed vs active hygienist counts differ; MOHW or KDHA table needed. (record)
• Dental technicians total: blocked_source. No reliable public figure retrieved. (record)
• Hospitals with a dental department: gap. No reliable figure. Fetched MOHW data.go.kr dataset 15127855 (hospital and clinic counts by institution type and province): it splits dental hospitals (치과병원) and dental clinics (치과의원) but has no count of general hospitals or tertiary hospitals that run a dental department. NHIS provider table likewise has no… (record)
• DSO share of dental clinics (%): not_published. No reliable figure. No registry or survey giving a chain/DSO share of clinics was found. Not estimated. (record)
• Implant procedures annual: gap. No annual implant procedure count fetched from a primary source. NHI covers only 65+ (2 per lifetime) so claims undercount the market; a claims-based count would need HIRA/NHIS statistics tables (health insurance statistical yearbook) which were not reached. Search found only trade-press mentions and a cohort paper… (record)
• Clear aligner cases annual: not_published. No public figure. Per a peer-reviewed review (PMC8067770, fetched) orthodontic treatment is excluded from the NHI dental coverage-rate calculation, so claims data is unlikely to exist; aligner vendors (Align Technology, local firms) do not publish Korea case counts. Paid industry reports only. (record)
• Self-pay share of dental spend (%): gap. No reliable share. A peer-reviewed review (Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021, PMC8067770, fetched) states that "the coverage rate of dental health insurance was 31.9%" in a 2015 study, and that implants and orthodontics were excluded from that rate, so the true insured share is lower; that coverage rate is not an… (record)
• Total dental spend (US$): gap. No fetched primary figure. Candidates: NHIS/HIRA dental benefit expenditure (won) in the health insurance statistical yearbook (insured portion only), OECD Health Expenditure by function (dental). Neither reached in this pass. If found, local-currency series should be proposed as a new metric (see gaps file). (record)
• Intraoral scanners installed: gap. No public installed-base figure. A market-research page claimed over 50% penetration in Korea and Japan without method or source; rejected under the source policy. Vendor data (3Shape, Medit, Align, Dentium, Shining 3D) or a KDA/KAID survey would be needed. (record)
• Chairside cadcam installed base: gap. No public installed-base figure found. Industry reports only. (record)
• Dental 3d printer installed base: gap. No public installed-base figure found. Industry reports only. (record)
• Adult OSA prevalence (%): gap. No national adult OSA prevalence located. Best peer-reviewed Korean figure is sex-split and age-limited (40-69 y, Korean Health and Genome Study, community sample n=457 with overnight polysomnography, Kim et al., Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2004): SDB (AHI>=5) 27% men / 16% women; OSAS (AHI>=5 plus daytime sleepiness)… (record)
• Oral appliance reimbursement: gap. No allowed-source evidence on NHI coverage of OSA oral appliances; the earlier negative finding rested on a quarantined MOHW page. (record)
• Dental schools total: gap. Number of dental colleges/schools: previous value (11) came from the quarantined MOHW document; no allowed source located. (record)

Data notes

Series breaks in this region. A jump across a break is never growth.

No series breaks documented.

Coverage

2024 = value, as-of year2019* = stale valuenull = documented null (reason on the fact page)missing = expected, not yet collected· = tier-2, no record

Full coverage matrix