What impact and impact does the new coronavirus have on the global dental industry?

Impact of the epidemic on global dental exhibitions
Due to the global outbreak caused by the new coronavirus, many dental industry conferences and other events across Europe have been postponed. Exocad, recently acquired by Align Technology, announced that its Insights 2020 activities will be postponed from mid-March to September. At the same time, the third Congress of the European Orthodontic Appliance Association originally scheduled to be held in Malta from March 19 to 21 was also changed to November.

KRAKDENT 2020 is the largest dental exhibition in Poland, attracting 15,000 visitors from all over the world. Now the exhibition is also arranged separately. In view of the compliance with the guidance of many European countries on large-scale assembly and the risk of spreading diseases, postponing the exhibition will help reduce the risk of virus spread.
In Spain, the Madrid International Dental Exhibition (EXPODENTAL Madrid), which is held every two years, has also been postponed, and UNIDI, the organizer of the Italian Dental Industry Association and Rimini International Dental Exhibition, also announced that this event will be changed from May to September.

Koelnmesse and the Singapore Dental Association (SDA) are co-organizers of the Singapore International Dental Exhibition (IDEM) in 2020. They announced that they will postpone the exhibition and arrange the exhibition to be held online. Dr. Lin Li, Chairman of the Singapore Dental Association, clarified in a press release: "In view of the current situation, we must make a decision based on the best interests of the participants. We will continue to listen to our partners and work closely with them, Hold a successful event."

Fearing that the virus is easy to spread, other conference activities had to be shelved. Headquartered in the American Osteointegration Association, the cancellation of the annual meeting was announced two weeks before the start of its annual meeting scheduled to be held from March 18 to 21.

Whether other major dental activities in the second half of this year will be affected by the epidemic remains to be seen. However, as of now, the Dental Congress of the World Dental Federation (FDI) scheduled for September in Shanghai, China has been cancelled.

Impact of the epidemic on global dental trade
The epidemic also has a huge impact on the global dental trade. Straumann Group CEO Guillaume Daniellot announced in a webcast conference call that the outbreak may reduce its sales in the Asia Pacific region by at least CHF 30 million in the first quarter of 2020. The Asia-Pacific region currently accounts for 19% of the group's business, and China is the company's largest market in the region.

Dentsply Sirona, another giant in the dental industry, recently predicted that its sales in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan will decline by a total of US$60-70 million in the first quarter of this year. Dentsply Sirona Chief Financial Officer Jorge Gomez said: "In all industries, our business operations in China and other countries or regions are affected by this unstable public medical situation."

Gomez added that the spread of the virus has led to a slowdown in the development of dental consumables and technology and equipment. It is currently difficult to predict the sales rebound in the affected markets in the next few quarters. He commented: "At this point, it is difficult for us to surpass the first quarter."

According to a report by the World Dental Forum, Align Technology, a manufacturer of transparent correction machines, also announced on the conference call that it is expected that the number of Invisalign appliances sold in China in the first quarter of 2020 will be reduced by 20,000 to 25,000. Further costs related to idle production at Aligh's China plant are expected to be around US$ 3-4 million.