Only half of households buy toothpaste in Turkey: Report

Duvar English

Turkey falls behind many countries when it comes to oral and dental health, according to a recent report.

Only half of all households buy toothpaste in Turkey and toothpaste consumption per person is 100 grams per year, while it is 155 grams in Spain and 270 grams in Italy, daily Sözcü reported on Oct. 23.

In developed countries people go to a dentist twice per year on average, while in Turkey 43 percent of the population has not been to a dentist in the last year.

The lack of care for oral and dental health in Turkey also keeps the industry from developing.

Saying that the sector is quite below its potential, Dental Equipment Industrialists and Businessmen Association (DİŞSİAD) General Secretary Erkan Uçar said the sector volume which is at 500 million dollars, has the potential to go up to 5 billion dollars.

Stating that dependency on imports is very high, Uçar said the industry is 80 percent dependent on imports but domestic production is slowly gaining importance.

"In the last two years, dental equipment sector relied more on domestic production but this spark must surely gain more speed. We foresee a drop to 60 percent in dependency on exports in the health sector by 2023," he said.

Uçar also said that the sector expects a 10-fold growth until 2025, number of dentists will increase to 60,000 from the current number of 30,000 and health tourism will also grow.

According to Uçar, aesthetic concerns still are still prominent in oral and dental health and almost half the demand comes from aesthetic procedures.

"Turkey is the only country in the world where the state supports dental health. Because of that there is a huge potential in the world in general. The estimated global market volume is about 50 billion dollars. Foreigners come to Turkey for both dental treatment and sightseeing," he also said.