No other year in the history of the dental industry has seen as great a push towards global adoption of digital dentistry than 2017 and, as a result of this, attention from dental professionals on 3D printing technologies is at an all-time high. This, of course, is a net positive for the dental 3D printing industry, which remains one of the key vertical markets for 3D printing solutions by stakeholders developing such products. However, with the great push to digitize workflows and fabrication processes, the dental industry overall remains in a great state of change, one that 3D printing technologies may ultimately capitalize on for future growth opportunities, but also one in which the path forward is not clear.
Certainly, 3D printing technologies as a whole are now firmly planted in the spotlight of the dental industry as it collectively seeks to integrate cutting-edge technologies. Total revenues for dental 3D printing including revenues associated with service-based printing by laboratories and specialist production centers reached $2.5B in 2018, up from $1.8B in 2017. The global dental 3D printing market is estimated to have generated around $750M in 2018 in dental AM hardware, material, and software sales.
