Start A Dental Products Business - Business Ideas

Updated: September 15th, 2022
Start A Dental Products Business

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

Dental products include toothpaste, floss, picks and sticks, oral irrigators, teeth whiteners, mouthwash, and so much more.

As more people learn about the importance of dental hygiene, the demand for dental products is increasing rapidly. Therefore, starting a dental hygiene business can be a profitable venture. You can purchase dental products in bulk and sell to your customers online or distribute dental products.

Starting a dental products business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell dental products, or selling dental products online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a dental products business ➜

Key Stats

starting costs
$29.1K
gross margin
58%
avg product price
$150
time to build
300 days
growth
Organic social media
business model
Subscriptions
time investment
Full time

Startup Costs

Min Startup Costs Max Startup Costs

Office Space Expenses

$0

$7,000

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$352

Website Costs

$223

$7,215

Business Formation Fees

$5,600

$20,400

Inventory Expenses

$350

$14,750

Software Expenses

$162

$3,094

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$4,786

Equipment & Supply Expenses

$3

$500

Total Startup Costs

$6,564

$58,097

Successful Businesses

Business URL Rank

Formlabs

formlabs.com

46,635

PATTERSON DENTAL

pattersondental.com

97,426

DentaQuest

dentaquest.com

112,128

Dental Tribune USA

dental-tribune.com

127,487

Ultradent Products, Inc.

ultradent.com

216,785

Beam Dental

beam.dental

230,771

Dental Products Report

dentalproductsreport.com

245,235

Dental Economics

dentaleconomics.com

264,631

Medicom

medicom.com

323,013

RDH

rdhmag.com

333,157

Dental Supplies & Dentistry Equipment

practicon.com

352,584

Pros & Cons

Pros Description

Flexibility

You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.

Scalable

With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers.

Meaningful business connections

You never know who you will meet as a dental products business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

High margins

The gross margins for your dental products business are typically around 58%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily.

Easy to encourage "impulse buy"

In the dental products business, you have a much higher chance of encouraging your customers to buy on impulse - you can easily alter the price, placement, packaging, and promotional value to influence the decision of your buyer.

Cons Description

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A dental products business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

High employee turnover

In the dental products business, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.

Taxes

As a dental products business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

Niche Market

A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.

High overhead expenses

With starting a dental products business, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.

Marketing Ideas

  • 1

    Word of mouth

    Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.

    Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.

    According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

    Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

    Learn more about word of mouth ➜

  • 2

    Social Media Advertising

    Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.

    According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.

    Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.

    Learn more about social media advertising ➜

  • 3

    Pay Per Click Advertising

    Pay-per-click (PPC) is a performance-based marketing method that allows you to show specific ads for services or products oriented to a very defined target, with the goal that the user visits your website or landing page.