SIC 3843 Dental Equipment and Supplies
SIC 3843
This classification comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing artificial teeth, dental metals, alloys, and amalgams, as well as a wide variety of equipment, instruments, and supplies used by dentists, dental laboratories, and dental colleges. Excluded from this classification are dental laboratories that construct artificial dentures, bridges, inlays, and other dental restorations on specifications from dentists; these are classified in SIC 8072: Dental Laboratories.
339114
Dental Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing
Essential to the practice of dentistry, the dental equipment and supply industry represents a modestly sized market and, in terms of sales, is considered to be one of the smallest industries, compared to the other medical supply and equipment industries. In the mid-2000s dental equipment and supplies accounted for approximately 5 percent of the medical equipment and supply industry's total shipment values ($65.8 billion in 2003). It also is an industry of expected growth due to increases in the cost of dental care, baby boomers taking better care of both their teeth and their children's teeth, the aging of the U.S. population, an increasing number of people covered by dental insurance, and technological advances in dental equipment such as advanced root canal procedure machines, less expensive oral cameras, and advancements in dental implants. Dental equipment and supply manufacturers shipped a total of $3.37 billion worth of goods in 2003, compared to $3.11 billion in 2000 and $2.66 billion in 1997.
Dental professional equipment, which made up approximately 23 percent of the industry in the mid-2000s, includes dental chairs, dental hand instruments, and drills and lasers. Dental professional supplies, which made up approximately 41 percent of the industry, includes plaster, amalgams (alloyed metals used for filling cavities), impression materials, cements, as well as dental tools and tool parts such as abrasive points and diamond heads. Dental laboratory equipment and supplies account for approximately 22 percent of the industry's shipment values and include precious (gold, platinum, and silver) and nonprecious dental metals; artificial teeth and dentures; and other dental appliances such as bridges, waxes, and crowns.
Dental equipment and dental supplies are regarded as separate markets, with some companies manufacturing only supplies; some manufacturing only equipment; and others, generally the larger companies (with a diverse mix of medical products), manufacturing both equipment and supplies. These products are then sold to dentists, dental laboratories, and dental colleges.
In the mid-2000s approximately 850 companies in the United States were manufacturing dental equipment and supplies. The majority of these manufacturers were small- and medium-sized companies, with only 4 percent of the total employing 100 or more employees. However, those largest establishments accounted for more than 65 percent of total shipment values.
By the mid-2000s larger medical supply companies also included dental products in their portfolios, thus changing the market from exclusive type manufacturers (small- to medium-sized companies) to multi-manufacturers (larger companies). As the industry matured, mergers and acquisitions became more common among medical companies to enhance the current product line for greater profits, and to share research and development costs of new dental products and supplies.
The bulk of the industry's manufacturing establishments were located in California, which contained approximately 170 facilities in the mid-2000s, leading all other states in dental equipment and supply production. New York was a distant second, with about 53 manufacturing establishments; Illinois followed, with 48 facilities. Aside from the concentration of facilities on the West Coast, in the Northeast, and in the Great Lakes region, dental equipment and supply production was scattered throughout the country, with 22 states containing manufacturing establishments.
Manufacturers of dental equipment and dental supplies first emerged as an appreciable component of American industry in the 1890s, although the first manufacturers of such products undoubtedly originated much earlier, appearing during the genesis of the nation itself, when the practice of dentistry first began in the United States. In fact, the earliest progenitors of the dental equipment and supply industry were the dentists themselves, who made their own equipment in workshops adjoining their public offices. Over the ensuing decades, as the nation's population grew and the magnitude of the country's commerce increased, the production of dental equipment and supplies became distinct from the practice of dentistry...
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