Please describe the organization of your group – which branches of dentistry/medicine do you focus on? How many employees? What is the history of your company?

Mr. Hongxing WU: Our company focuses mainly on the production of dentures, processors and the distribution of EMS products. In 2004, we entered the dental industry and founded Hefei Huate Denture Processing Center, with large customer resources in Anhui at the time. Then Anhui Jiajie Medical Appratus Co., Ltd. was established in 2017, mainly engaged in dental medical equipment. Since 2018, we began the distribution of EMS. Now, our team has 12 employees in the office, when just a few years ago there were one single person. The company structure is the following: there is a sales department responsible for sales and promotion, an engineering department responsible for the installation and maintenance of devices, a logistics & support department, which covers finance, procurement, and warehouse management, public-bidding and so on.

What challenges do you face in your country? How have you overcome them?

Mr. Hongxing WU: We generally encounter unfair practices from our competitors in China. Not only by the products themselves, but also by low price competition. We think we should avoid these low-price strategies and focus more on marketing and after-sales service. We emphasize the importance of after-sales service to improve the brand image, especially in government hospitals. We’ve selected high quality products in our distribution plan, such as EMS, in an effort to combine the manufacturer's general marketing strategy with our local market approaches.

Is there any innovative promotion/ marketing activity related to EMS products in the past year that you were really happy with?

Mr. Hongxing WU: We are very satisfied with the innovative promotion and marketing activities of EMS in the past few years, like the Air Flow promotion, the GBT case studies, SDA and international lectures in congresses…These activities can help us distinguish the needs of our customers, increase their clinic’s revenue and finally - help patients to achieve a win-win situation with more comfortable methods.

How do you see the Guided Biofilm Therapy (GBT) in your country? How do you use it in your country and how is this concept supporting your daily business? 

Mr. Hongxing WU: At present, GBT is becoming more and more popular in the first-tier cities in China, but for tier 2 and tier 3 provinces, like Hefei, it is still in the initial stage and there is still much room for promotion. With an aging population in China and a series of policies which aim at boosting birth rates, the prospects of the whole oral industry are very optimistic. However, due to the economic limitations, I think the dental business needs more publicity and education from marketing and government.

When visiting customers, our sales force usually introduces the method and benefits of GBT, showing customers videos of the therapy. When timing allows for it, we take customers to visit other successful GBT clinics and invite doctors to join an SDA course. Sometimes, we also invite EMS staff to participate in hospital department meetings and take testimonials to help promote the new standard.

Tell us your opinion about the Swiss Dental Academy?

Mr. Hongxing WU: The Swiss Dental Academy has been very successful and is a big platform for us. In China，most participants in SDA courses are dentists. I hope that the SDA will not only provide training and re-education to professional doctors, but also certification for dental nurses and dental hygienists in the future. The standards of dental hygiene are not very clear in China, so we hope that the SDA can establish a benchmark for dental hygienist training in the industry. In the future, clinics, government hospitals, youth-funded doctors and nurses will have a sense of need and honor to study at the SDA.

How do you see the future of dentistry in your country over the next 3-5 years?

Mr. Hongxing WU: If we talk about the next 3-5 years and the development of Chinese dentistry, the future demand for clinics in China is considerable. Of course, the demand of dentists and the introduction of dental medical equipment is also increasing.

With the development of market-oriented economy and the direction of health care and prevention, I think dentistry will become more and more important in in the region. Digitalization is the main trend in dental products, and market positioning as well as functional design follow this trend, which is why we believe that we will make an even bigger success with EMS.