After years of steady growth, the dental hygiene market is heading towards saturation. It can be expected that in the near future a significant majority of customers will no longer be able to accept other emerging dental hygiene service offerings.
The dental hygiene industry is undergoing a turbulent development. It is a relatively young industry in the Czech Republic, with a domestic history dating back to 1996, and today, despite the ever-increasing number of practising dental hygienists, demand for dental hygiene services remains high at first sight. There is a similarly high level of interest in dental hygiene studies amongst applicants, with dental hygiene studies often being presented to students as the first choice. And people have a strong primary interest in linking their professional life to the field of dental hygiene. They see it as a job potential for the future.
Meanwhile, the number of full-time jobs continues to grow
The number of full-time dental hygienists has steadily increased every year since 1996. In 2021, for example, the number of hygienists will reach 1,447, 154 more than in 2020 and more than triple the number a decade ago in 2012, when the number was only 433.
It seems that the demand for dental hygienists’ services is not yet sufficiently satisfied and that demand far outstrips supply. The question arises, however, as to where the point is when the supply will fully meet the demand, the market will be saturated and the number of dental hygienists will start to stagnate.
For the answer, we will have to look abroad to markets that are significantly older and where saturation has already occurred.
The number of dental technicians has almost halved in twenty years. From 1998 to 2018, their headcount fell by 43%. The highest number is in the Central Bohemia Region, the lowest in the Pilsen Region. Read more about the significant decline in the number of dental technicians here.
Dental hygiene in the Netherlands
Dental hygiene education in the Netherlands started in 1968 after a long political debate about the roles, functions and job description of dental hygienists. From a slow start in a school with five students based on the American model, which had a two-year curriculum, dental hygiene education is now a four-year university course. Approximately 300 students a year are admitted to study dental hygiene. Graduates receive a Bachelor of Health degree from the University of Applied Sciences.
In the 45 years of its existence, the dental hygiene profession in the Netherlands has undergone enormous change. Initially, dental hygienists worked under the supervision of a dentist, which changed in 1992 to working ‘on the recommendation’ of a dentist. Another change came in 2006, when dental hygienists started to be directly available to patients without a doctor’s referral.
There are currently 3,569 dental hygienists in the Netherlands. The total capacity of the dental hygiene delivery system is, after recalculation, 2,739 full-time equivalent positions.
Attendance rate at the dental hygienist
Barriers to accessing dental hygiene services are generally low in the Netherlands, for example, dental hygienist services are fully covered by health insurance for children and adolescents under 18 years of age. Yet, in 2018, only 36 per cent of people aged 12 and over in the Netherlands visited a dental hygienist. Clients between 40 and 65 years old were the most likely to see a dental hygienist, with 41.7 percent of their age group visiting a dental hygienist. Paradoxically, children and adolescents were at the other end of the survey. Only 25.2 percent of children and adolescents between 12 and 18 years old visited a dental hygienist in the Netherlands in 2018.
A survey conducted for the Canadian Dental Hygienists’ Association reports similar attendance rates. It reports that only four in 10 Canadians visited a dental hygienist in 2020.
It should also be said that in the Netherlands, there is a direct correlation between income levels and visits to a dental hygienist. People with lower incomes visit a dental hygienist less often than people with higher incomes.
Dental Hygiene Market Size in the Czech Republic
If we transfer the observed Dutch and Canadian attendance rates and the time cost of treatments there to the Czech realities, we can determine the size of the potential dental hygiene market in the Czech Republic and create a forecast of its fulfilment.
The total available market for dental hygiene in the Czech Republic, according to this finding, will be somewhere between 1,700 and 1,900 dental hygienists. Which would mean that the dental hygiene market with all its characteristics may be fully saturated as early as between 2023 and 2025.
This will lead to a rethinking of the business models of dental hygienist practices, stagnation of dental hygiene prices, and a greater customer orientation of dental hygiene practices. The quality of dental hygienists’ services will increase more than their prices. There will also be a reduction in operating margins and a longer return on investment in dental hygiene businesses. There will be a significant increase in competition between market players for new customers, because winning them in a saturated market can only be done by taking over from competitors.
It will also be a significant challenge for dental hygiene education providers to see if they can adapt to this trend and provide their students with sufficient competences to succeed in this saturated market. And, of course, for the dental hygiene students themselves, that employability in the field will not be what it used to be and what they probably expected.
Sources:
Own calculation
Only Four Out of 10 Canadians Have Seen a Dental Hygienist in the Past Year – Dentistry Today
Meer mensen naar de mondhygiënist (cbs.nl)
Dental hygienist in The Netherlands: the past, present and future (researchgate.net)
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