Maximize your comfort with DIO Implant

Korea’s growth in the medical field has been a remarkable phenomenon, particularly during and after COVID-19, when the expansion of individual diagnostic equipment has been phenomenal. But even beyond that, over the past two years, the Korean medical industry—excluding POCT products—has seen significant growth both in exports and domestically. This is quite surprising, considering that medical institutions and practitioners tend to be very conservative. Changing suppliers and adopting new technologies is always a challenge for newcomers. What are the key factors in overcoming these challenges? Is it more a matter of reputation or technology?

There are two main reasons why the market and companies in this field have grown significantly after COVID-19.

First, the pandemic fundamentally changed people’s lifestyles. In 2020, the implant market saw a dramatic decline due to lockdowns, but in 2021, demand skyrocketed, leading to an unprecedented growth rate. Several factors contributed to this. With the rising cost of living, labor, and other expenses, people began reconsidering medical costs, including implants. Globally, implant prices have been declining, and many dentists have started charging less for implant procedures. Normally, pricing adjustments were largely driven by companies in the United States and Europe.

However, as patients and practitioners sought more cost-effective alternatives, they started turning to Korean implant solutions.

Second, Korean companies have continuously developed and refined their products. Of course, digitalization plays a crucial role in this transformation. However, what I want to emphasize is the importance of optimized workflow in clinic  and the development of comprehensive solutions in both products and services. Many Korean companies have been actively innovating in these areas, and as a result, more people are taking notice of these advancements.

One unique aspect of Korea is how medical treatments and aesthetics are seamlessly blended. As a European, it’s quite new to see health and beauty so intertwined in the mindset of both practitioners and patients. Could you explain what makes Korea so distinctive in its ability to merge health and beauty?

From my experience, historically, plastic surgery and cosmetic treatments have long been integrated into the field of dental implants. Many plastic surgery and cosmetic treatment companies began collaborating with dentists as early as the 2010s. At that time, Koreans started becoming more conscious of their appearance and how they were perceived by others. With the rapid expansion of the internet and Korea’s economic growth, interest in personal aesthetics and healthcare skyrocketed. This led to an exponential boom in the plastic surgery and cosmetic treatment industries.

As this trend took off, people began viewing medical treatments not just as healthcare but also as a business. Many hospitals and clinics that initially specialized in dermatology expanded into dentistry, offering packaged services and products. I believe this shift is closely tied to the cultural characteristics of Koreans, who are generally more receptive to rapid advancements compared to those in Europe. A combination of these factors created the current landscape where health and beauty are deeply connected.        

Additionally, when we consider that medical treatments as a business perspective, patients are seen as consumers, and surely medical procedures are driven by demand. The key factor influencing treatment demand is often “appearance” rather than purely “medical necessity”. Since aesthetic improvements tend to have a more noticeable impact than conventional treatments alone, it makes strategic sense to position certain procedures—such as dental implants—not just as medical necessities but also as beauty enhancements. This mindset is a unique characteristic of the Korean market.

This trend is not limited to dentistry—it has influenced various fields, including LASIK eye surgery. Nowadays, almost every child in Korea gets braces, reflecting evolving beauty standards that shift alongside economic development. In the past, people desired to become more attractive, but the rise of companies specializing in aesthetic enhancements transformed this personal aspiration into a widespread social trend.

There are three main factors driving this trend in Korea. First, accessibility. There is a high concentration of dermatology and plastic surgery clinics in Korea, making it easy for people to visit specialists for cosmetic procedures, dental treatments, and skincare. Second, social proof. The sharing of success stories plays a significant role. People hear from friends and family members about their positive experiences with beauty procedures, reinforcing the trend. Third, affordability. Compared to other countries, the cost of these procedures is relatively low due to intense market competition. The industry is highly saturated, which drives prices down.

Moreover, in the dental sector, national health insurance plays a crucial role in driving market growth. The Korean government provides coverage for two dental implants for individuals over 65, significantly expanding the implant market. Additionally, there are various subsidies for prosthetics. A prominent presidential candidate even proposed expanding coverage to include two implants for those over 60 and four implants for those over 65, which would further increase demand. As a result, many companies are developing new technologies and products to meet these evolving needs. Also this strong government support has been a critical factor in the rapid growth of the implant industry in Korea.

When we shift our focus to dentistry, digitalization has played a significant role in improving accessibility. Minimally invasive procedures, with success rates exceeding 95%, have drastically reduced both the time patients spend in the chair and overall prices. However, this transformation remains largely localized in Korea. On a global scale, digitalization is still a relatively small part of the dental industry. Looking ahead, how do you see the evolution of digital dentistry in Europe, the US, and beyond?

First, when we examine the development of digital treatments and technologies in Korea, it’s important to highlight that these advancements primarily benefit dentists. By enhancing efficiency and increasing revenue potential, digitalization provides clear advantages to practitioners—benefits that ultimately extend to patients as well.

For example, digital technology significantly reduces chair time, thereby improving a dentist’s productivity. Additionally, the overall treatment preparation process is much shorter, even though certain procedures may still require extra steps. This efficiency doesn’t just benefit dentists and patients—it also improves workflow for clinic staff, making operations smoother and more effective. Because of these advantages, many professionals are eager to integrate advanced technologies into their practices.

The way digital dentistry expands follows a specific pattern. Medical technology companies first develop and introduce digital solutions to dentists, who then implement these innovations in their routine treatments. Since technology providers cannot introduce solutions directly to patients, dentists serve as the bridge, bringing digital advancements into clinical practice. This is the fundamental process driving the rise of digital dentistry.

One of the most time-consuming aspects of conventional implant procedures is a “incision”, cutting the gum, then “suturing” stitching it back together. However, today, more than 80% of digital implant surgeries are flapless, meaning there is no need to make incisions. This technique drastically reduces procedure and treatment time. In the past, an implant surgery for the edentulous patient could take up to three hours, but with flapless surgery, a patient can receive a full prosthesis within just one to one and a half hours.

While we’ve discussed the advantages of digital transformation, it’s also important to consider the broader industry landscape. As technology providers introduce new solutions to dentists, and dentists adopt them for patient care, we’re seeing a rise in Dental Service Organizations (DSOs). DSOs are gaining traction globally, attracting significant investment from private equity firms. This shift is turning the dental industry into a structured business sector rather than just a collection of independent practices.

From a patient’s perspective, a dental clinic may seem like a place where a single dentist provides various treatments. However, from the standpoint of DSOs, clinic owners, and investors, these establishments operate as businesses. Revenue generation is a key focus, but beyond that, efficiency and productivity are critical factors for growth.

Among all dental procedures, implants offer the highest revenue potential. However, the number of clinics performing implants is not expanding quickly enough to meet rising demand. The solution lies in standardization—not just ensuring that every dentist has extensive experience, but also introducing technological advancements that guarantee consistent, high-quality results.

This is why I believe computer-assisted and fully digitalized surgeries will become more prevalent in the near future. These technologies will ensure uniform results across practitioners while further reducing chair time for patients. Given these trends and the overall industry dynamics, the continuous advancement of digital dentistry is inevitable.

Large clinics with highly experienced dentists have the capital to invest in advanced equipment, such as 3D printers, intraoral scanners, CT scanners, and other digital tools you’ve shown us. However, for small to mid-sized clinics, making such investments is far more challenging. How do you support both large and small clinics in this regard?

Small clinics cannot provide all digital treatment services on their own. In Korea, smaller clinics typically partner with specialized service providers or collaborate with dental laboratories to compensate for these limitations. In international markets, we, DIO have our digital centers called “DIOnavi Center”. These centers serve as hubs where we invite dentists interested in digital treatment, providing training through seminars and workshops. We educate them on the digital treatment process, workflow, and the benefits of digital dentistry. And we supply them the service with digital equipment. For larger clinics with the financial ability to invest in digital technology, we offer end-to-end digital center design support services. We help them operate and organize their facilities for the digital equipment, train their employees, and optimize their digital workflow.

Returning to smaller clinics, we guide them on which digital technologies they can integrate step by step to enhance their services incrementally. The digital center, DIOnavi. Center also plays a key role, ensuring that even smaller clinics can leverage digital solutions. In Korea, we collaborate with our partners and highly advanced dental labs for our digital solutions to provide digital prosthetics production. In global, we operate our own DIOnavi Center, and also we work closely with local dental labs to extend our services.

We also invite dentists—especially those unable to install a full digital workflow in their clinics—to our DIOnavi Center for hands-on training. We demonstrate the advantages of digital dentistry for both clinicians and patients and show them how our DIOnavi system enhances treatment outcomes. Since each country has different regulations and market conditions, we tailor our approach to fit local needs.

You mentioned practitioner education and collaborations with academies. Would you say that education and training are at the core of DIO Implant’s strategy today?

Ideally, we aim to provide a comprehensive, in-house solution through DIOnavi Centers in each market. However, regulations vary from country to country. For example, in Korea, manufacturers are not legally allowed to operate dental laboratories—only licensed professionals can establish them. In contrast, in some other countries, private companies can run their own dental labs. Despite these differences, digital implants currently make up less than 10% of the global implant industry. This means that raising awareness and educating clinicians about digital workflows is critical.

That’s why we invite international dentists to our headquarters in Korea. Through these visits, we provide detailed lectures and hands-on training on digital implants. Dentists who travel to Korea and invest their time and money in this training are highly motivated to implement full digital workflows in their own clinics. Therefore, we ensure they receive top-tier education. Almost every week, we host visitors from abroad. Last week, we had dentists from Thailand visit our headquarters. This week, we have visitors from Japan.

Another factor that will drive the adoption of digital dentistry is the aging population of dentists. Many older practitioners believe they don’t need to learn new techniques because they already have extensive experience. However, young dentists—especially recent graduates—are actively seeking ways to enhance their skills.

Universities do not typically teach implant surgery, so after graduating, young dentists must either pay for private training programs or attend professional education courses to learn implant techniques. This process can be time-consuming and expensive. However, digital implant workflows are standardized, making them much easier to learn in a short period. This is another key reason why digital treatment adoption will continue to grow.

Additionally, the gender demographics of new dentists are changing. Among conventional implant specialists, the percentage of female dentists is quite low. However, among dental students, female enrollment now surpasses male enrollment. As these young female dentists enter the industry, the demand for digital implant solutions will rise because digital workflows offer greater accessibility, precision, and efficiency.

Given these trends, could you introduce DIOnavi and explain the unique features of the platform?

I have been in the implant industry for over 20 years, and I am familiar with many Korean companies that claim to excel in implant navigation and computer-guided surgery. However, when you take a closer look, many of these companies do not provide a fully integrated, in-house digital workflow solution.

At DIO Implant, we do. Our complete digital workflow solution covers every step of the process—from diagnosis and treatment planning to surgical guide fabrication and execution. The key factor in digital implantology is ensuring that the surgical guide precisely matches the implant placement plan. When the guide and planning align perfectly, we can achieve identical surgical outcomes to what was initially designed and planned before surgery.

Beyond that, we provide specialized surgical kits and optimized tools to ensure the best possible treatment experience for both dentists and patients. We have made significant investments in R&D to develop this state-of-the-art technology and workflow, and our efforts have been widely recognized in Korea, Europe, and India. If you ask dentists in many countries about digital implant solutions, they will immediately think of DIO Implant.

The completeness of our workflow is one of our greatest competitive advantages. Another key strength is our commitment to absolute precision, ensuring that our digital solutions consistently deliver the best possible results.

Earlier, we briefly touched on the full-arch solution you’ve developed, which combines a complete digital workflow with utmost precision. For practitioners reading this interview, could you elaborate on the progress DIO Implant has made in full-arch treatments?

What patients truly need is not just implants—they need teeth for their life. Therefore, two critical aspects must be perfected: precision in implant placement and expertise in prosthetics, as the prosthetic ultimately sits on top of the implant.

Our workflow begins with digital diagnostics. We receive patient data through digital scans, and our DIOnavi Center conducts a full diagnosis based on this information. Using specialized software, we create an implant surgery guide, determining the ideal implant size, precise placement location, and optimal angulation. Once the surgical plan is finalized, we design a corresponding prosthetic that fits the implants while taking occlusion into account. After this, we consult with the dentist performing the procedure to confirm the plan. Once both the implant and prosthetic designs are approved by doctor, we proceed with fabrication. The entire process follows a structured workflow, starting with digital diagnosis and treatment planning, followed by the creation of a surgical guide using a 3D printer, and culminating in implant placement using the guide.

One of the biggest challenges in implant surgery is ensuring that the surgical guide fits the patient’s mouth with absolute precision. If the guide shifts even slightly, it can lead to significant errors. Many companies rely solely on surgical stent to stabilize the guide. However, at DIO Digital Solution, DIOnavi., we developed a unique anchor system that secures the surgical guide in the right place, preventing movement during surgery. This anchor is easily removable after the procedure. The reason this is so crucial is that even a 0.1mm deviation in angulation during drilling can result in over 1mm of misalignment in implant placement, significantly impacting the final outcome.

Additionally, when drilling through a 3D-printed surgical guide, there may be a slight gap between the drill and the guide hole, leading to instability. To address this, we developed a metal sleeve system that enhances precision by stabilizing the drill during the procedure. Another innovation is our drilling procedure, which guide the initial drill more accurately. The initial drill is critical because all subsequent drilling follows its trajectory. Every surgical tool has a degree of tolerance, but we have worked extensively to minimize this margin of error as much as possible.

Another key difference in our approach is low-speed drilling. In normal surgery procedures, the standard drilling speed ranges from 800 to 1,000 RPM. However, at DIO Implant, we have developed technology that reduces the speed to just 100 RPM. High-speed drilling generates heat, which can damage bone tissue and lead to bone resorption. But low-speed drilling minimizes heat generation, preserving the bone structure. Additionally, most dental clinics use water cooling systems during drilling. However, if there is any tolerance or misalignment, water can enter the drilling space, further complicating the procedure. Our specially designed low-speed drills help prevent this issue.

We have developed a three-stage prosthetic system for implant patients, ensuring a progressive adaptation to their new teeth. If the implant is fixed strongly enough in the initial stage, the patient may receive a temporary prosthetic immediately after implantation. This allows for immediate aesthetics, though the prosthetic is non-functional at this stage. Since the gum shape changes after surgery, the first temporary prosthetic will no longer fit perfectly after a few weeks. At this point, we provide a new provisional bridge that better adapts to the healing gum. The patient returns for another check-up, allowing for further adjustments to their second provisional bridge. Finally, once the implant is fully osseo-integrated, we design the final prosthetic with the latest condition of patient and make the last restoration.

This three-step approach is the most optimized method for full-arch restoration. The first and second temporary prosthetics are designed and produced in-house, while the final prosthetic is designed digitally at our center and manufactured at a dental laboratory in Korea where highly advanced in digital. What sets DIO Implant apart is that our entire full-arch solution is built around a comprehensive digital workflow. Unlike other companies, we do not rely on a fragmented approach. Instead, we integrate diagnostics, planning, surgical guidance, and prosthetic fabrication into a seamless system.

This fully digital approach ensures higher accuracy in implant placement, faster and more predictable outcomes for both dentists and patients, and minimized human error through AI-driven planning and precise digital execution. Our technology-driven methodology fundamentally transforms full-arch implant treatments, making the process simpler, more precise, and more accessible to clinicians worldwide.

You have several implant series, with the latest being an improvement of the UF II. You also have specialized implants like FTN and Protem, which are adapted to their respective placements. Could you explain more about your implant series and introduce the main one?

Our main implant is the UF II System, which is a submerged type. We have launched three different types of implant systems mainly and we launched the latest implant system, UFIII in some regions this year due to varying registration timelines in different countries. While in others, it will be introduced next year. In Korea, we introduced it a few years ago, meaning we currently offer all three implants here. However, the two primary implant systems we are currently providing are categorized based on their connection types.

The FTN implant features an external connection system, where the abutment holding the crown is externally connected. If we look at the history of implant design, the first-generation implants had external connections, where the implant was placed in the bone level, but the connection part remained outside. This was the conventional implant design. Later, the internal connection system was developed, where the connection part is embedded within the bone. Today, most implant systems use an internal connection.

This year, we are introducing a new implant system in the Korean market first, followed by other countries as soon as we complete the necessary regulatory processes. In order to provide clinicians and patients with better results, we are continuously designing and developing new implant systems. The reason for this ongoing development is simple: we are an implant company, and innovation is at our core.

You mentioned the difficulties Korean companies face when expanding abroad. Over time, many Korean manufacturers have focused primarily on price competitiveness. However, the global implant market is becoming increasingly competitive, with strong competition from China and India. While price remains an important factor, we believe specifications, features, and benefits are equally critical. A product’s specifications define its core characteristics, but its features and benefits determine how it delivers value to the customer. This is why we are shifting our focus from price to differentiating our products through superior features and benefits.

If price is the only factor driving purchasing decisions, customers will eventually switch to another company offering a lower price. This is not a sustainable strategy for the future. Instead, we continuously innovate to provide clinical solutions that enhance treatment outcomes for clinicians and patients alike. Our approach is not just about selling a product—it is about offering a complete platform and service that combines technology, knowledge, and practical solutions for clinicians.

Which international markets do you believe will be most receptive to this approach?

Every market is important. If customers can afford our implants, they will consider the added value we provide. However, every country has different economic conditions and cultural perspectives, so we must tailor our strategy for each individual market. We do not apply a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we carefully analyze each market and develop customized strategies accordingly. We already have strategic plans in place for our subsidiaries worldwide.

China is our biggest opportunity. If we look at the dental implant industry’s growth projections, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in Europe until 2030 is around 3%, while the global market is expected to grow by approximately 6%. In contrast, China’s CAGR is nearly 10%, and some research reports estimate India’s growth at 16%, with local industry associations predicting as high as 22%. These emerging markets offer significantly greater growth potential compared to developed markets.

As a result, we have developed distinct strategies for emerging markets and major established markets. In the next five years, China will be our primary focus, as we see the highest potential for expansion there.

So far, you’ve explained the company’s business strategy. How does digitalization fit into this vision?

Take Spain, for example—around 40% of its dental market is controlled by corporate dental service organizations (DSOs). In Scandinavian countries, DSOs account for over 70% of the market. These organizations rely on implant clinicians to perform surgeries, and digital solutions significantly enhance their efficiency.

Beyond DSOs, we also see demographic shifts affecting the industry, such as an aging workforce and increasing gender diversity among clinicians. Whenever I attend global dental conferences, these topics are consistently discussed. Digital dentistry can help bridge these gaps by providing solutions that make implant procedures more predictable, efficient, and accessible.

If we look at market trends, we can also observe the strategic acquisitions of companies like Straumann. They have acquired multiple dental companies, and while their premium Straumann Implant brand is well-known, the most-sold implant system by volume is actually Neodent.

The implant market is divided into three segments: premium, value, and economic. While Straumann positions itself as a premium brand, Neodent dominates the mid-tier value and economic markets, accounting for more than 70% of total implant unit sales in some countries. Straumann’s acquisitions indicate a strategic shift towards capturing a broader market share beyond the premium segment.

Recognizing these industry trends, we are currently developing and refining our own multi-tiered strategy for the next three to five years.

This report aims to gather insights from industry leaders in Korea. If there’s one key message you’d like our readers to take away, what would it be?

Over the past year, we have welcomed new C-level executives who bring fresh perspectives to our company. We understand the market, and we are committed to leading the industry through digital innovation. To achieve this, we are heavily investing in expanding access to our digital solutions, allowing more clinicians worldwide to perform better, more precise implant procedures for their patients.

At the same time, we recognize our responsibility to our stakeholders. We are not only focused on technology and clinical outcomes but also on sustainable business growth. Last year, we introduced several key initiatives for our stakeholders, and we will continue building on these efforts. Our mission is clear: We will keep innovating. We will not stop.

For more information please visit: https://www.dioimplant.com/eng/intro.do