SBS Biz

 

- I may look like a seasoned businessman now but was initially an implant dentist myself. After about five years being a dentist, I realized the software I was using was poorly made. So I wanted to fix the problem myself. So I founded a company in 1997 to develop a new software and continued to expand the business. And around the end of 2000, I bought a small dental implant company, which at the time was worth about 870 thousand dollars. I got the offer when the company was struggling with financial difficulties. I thought I could go big with dental implants through the acquisition. After that, the business grew as I had thought. And soon I came to the point where I had to choose between dentistry and running a company. I am doing business now and I think I made the right choice.

 

- At first, it was tough to develop the technology to produce quality products. I had no experience in manufacturing, just had ideas and hopes, as a dentist, of what my products would look like. I had no knowledge about how to make them. So I hired researchers and we put our heads together. But that wasn't easy either. In the beginning, the quality was quite low so we were not getting good customer reviews. It was difficult at the time.

 

- First, we concentrated on improving the quality of our products. We also focused on education. When I started implants, there were not many dentists in Korea who could do the surgery. So we began teaching them about implants... and pretty soon many dentists took interest and were able to conduct implant surgeries. Currently most implant dentists in the country are those who studied with us. They've been using our products and as words spread, we were able to see the market expanding and become number one.

- The difference lies in the quality of education. Even if you study for the same amount of time, you will have better skill if you studied at Osstem. In fact, a considerable number of dentists who are seeking to learn the skill come to our learning center. Right now we are teaching more than any other top brands around the world. Each year, about a thousand dentists complete the course. And this is one of the major reasons Korea has the highest implant surgery rate. So we take pride in our competitiveness in education.

 

- What determines the quality is the surface treatment technology. How to enhance the biocompatibility to the bone is a major element. We're getting reviews that Osstem products are world-class in this area.

 

- Dental implants are possible when patients have sufficient volume of gum bone. Our job includes making bones for those who don't have them. The bone-promoting material that we developed this time is a kind of protein. When injected, this helps the bone to grow. So even patients who don't have enough gum bone can take the surgery without having to go through a complicated process of bone implant. There are several patented technologies out in the market right now but none of them are commercialized. We are on a similar track to make it available in the market. The only difference is that our material is hundreds of times cheaper. So our technology is much easier to commercialize. For safety we've been conducting animal tests for years now. After clinical tests I think it will be out in the market as early as 2015.

 

- When it comes to medical equipment, people tend to use products that have already gained positive reviews because they want to be sure about the safety and effectiveness of the equipment. It's really difficult to change the perception. When we started out, people had this perception that foreign dental implants were better when our product was also high in quality. It was really difficult to break the perception. Even those made by small foreign companies would sell at a much higher price simply because they were foreign. Even dentists could not change that. That's why we decided to run TV commercials. We've been doing it for six years now and results are showing. Patients nowadays naturally think of our brand Osstem when talking about dental implants. Thanks to the TV ad we've been able to expand our market share significantly. A few years ago foreign brands dominated the market 100 percent. Now they account for less than 20 percent.

 

- In terms of revenue our overseas sales have increased to the similar level we see in the domestic market. But the actual number of products sold here in Korea is much higher because they are about half the price sold abroad. This shows that we've gained greater competitiveness in overseas markets than in the past. We're expecting the figure to surpass our domestic sales next year.

 

- Our biggest market is of course the US. At the same time we are also focusing on the growing market particularly China that has the greatest potential. 

 

- Yes. Our products are cheaper than those made by our competitors which came into the market before us.

 

- It may sound funny but the number of teeth missing is higher than the population itself in any country. According to a study in China there are over 3 billion teeth missing. The case is similar in the US. If the US population is 300 million, you can assume there are at least 300 million or more teeth missing. But you need to remember that the rate of dental implants is not even one percent of that. There are over 50 million teeth missing in Korea but only five million have been replaced with dental implants. According to statistics last year, out of 10-thousand people, 255 implants were done in Korea, 43 in Germany and only one in China. This means the Chinese market has the potential to grown 250 times that of Korea. So you can say, the global dental implant market is at its early stage right now.

 

-  We've already established seven more regional headquarters to focus more on our global business next year. And we're expecting our sales to increase by 30 percent or more.

 

- Our initial goal was to become number one in the industry by 2016 but I think the plan needs some readjustment because of slowing markets abroad and intense competition at home. So we are aiming for number three position by 2014. Currently we stand at number six, still seeing a big gap with the frontrunner. But we will not let up on our efforts to become number one by 2020.

Mr. Choi, great pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much.

 

 

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