The importance of oral care and oral care products has grown tremendously in recent years due to increasing awareness among consumers and improved information dissemination in developing countries. The core requirement for oral health-care products stems from the fact that most oral health conditions are preventable and/or treatable through products that are commercially available. Key among the oral conditions highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO) is dental caries, which can lead to tooth decay, the gangrenous disease noma that usually affects children who are malnourished, oral cancers, oral manifestations of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cleft lip and palate, oro-dental trauma, and other periodontal diseases.

But truth be told, aside from brushing and flossing our teeth, we’ve never given a whole lot of thought to our oral-care routines. But now, with 2020 nearly over, gone are the days of the humble plastic toothbrush. It’s safe to say that this was the year the next generation of oral care took center stage.

Current status and future estimates for the oral care market

The world oral care market in 2020 was valued at $53 billion in US dollars and it is estimated that the market will be valued at $96 billion by the end of 2031. It’s riding on the back of a steady increase in sales revenue at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.6% during the next 10 years. The various kinds of oral conditions are estimated to be affecting nearly 3.5 billion of the world’s 7.8 billion people. Of these 3.5 billion people, almost 2.3 billion are estimated to be suffering from caries that affects their permanent teeth, while more than 530 million children suffer from caries affecting their deciduous teeth. This provides a huge growth potential for the oral health-care market since caries is the most preventable (and often the easiest to prevent) type of dental ailment.

Besides the general growth trend and potential opportunities, key players in the oral health-care market need to be aware of demographic shifts in the market. The European segment currently dominates the market. This is in consonance with other broad trends such as high levels of awareness about oral health (which is due to high information penetration), easy access to markets with a broad range of products (a derivative of high levels of development), and a propensity of European consumers to go for high-end products due to high income levels. However, European countries are aging. As a result, key manufacturers are shifting their product portfolios in the European market. These shifts are likely to result in continued market growth, and Germany, Europe’s largest market, is estimated to continue growing at a CAGR of 6% over the next 10 years.

The global market share, when divided in terms of demography, is overwhelmingly dominated by oral care products for children. These are valued at $24,213.4 million, followed by products for the elderly, valued at $18,091.6 million, and finally, products for adults, valued at $10,574.9 million.2 Given that Europe is the dominant regional segment for the market and faces the prospect of a rapidly aging population, it can be surmised that the geriatric population products segment will see the fastest growth. Furthermore, consumption of high-end products (i.e., products priced between $100 to $250), which is currently valued at $1,44,614 million,2 is also likely to grow rapidly. However, this situation is true only for the European segment and a direct correlation between the growth trajectory of the European and global oral health-care markets would be erroneous.