Jinsong Dental's Vision Beyond the 'Mega-Clinic Model': A Deep Dive into China's Top 50 Private Dental Enterprises

KPMG China’s Top 50 Private Dental Healthcare Enterprises is part of the KPMG China Healthcare 50 series. KPMG China has long maintained a close focus on development trends within China’s healthcare industry. Through this public-interest initiative in the dental sector, it aims to identify outstanding benchmark enterprises in the dental healthcare market, support the healthy growth of more high-quality private dental healthcare providers, and jointly explore emerging trends shaping the future of China’s dental healthcare market from a global perspective, thereby facilitating the transformation and rise of China’s dental healthcare industry.

To support the “Top 50 Private Dental Healthcare Enterprises in China” initiative, KPMG China has specially curated and launched the “Dental Top 50 Opportunities” series. This series focuses on enterprises across the upstream and downstream of the dental healthcare industry chain, exploring topics such as the current market environment, investment hotspots, and industrial transformation, to provide insights into the future development trends of the dental healthcare sector.

In this article, we share the interview from the “Oral Care 50 Opportunities” dialogue series in a Q&A format. In this interview, Yao Feng’e, Partner and Head of Healthcare at KPMG China, speaks with Ma Zhixin, CEO of Jinsong Dental Group.

Yao Feng'e:Since its establishment in 2005, Jinsong Dental has grown into a large private dental chain with 14 branches and nearly 1,000 employees. Could you please share the key success factors from the past 17 years? Does Jingsong Dental’s “large-store model,” which imposes higher requirements on the number of departments, staff size, and facility area compared to single-location clinics, constitute a standardized operational model?

Ma Zhixin:To date, the “Large Clinic Model” concept proposed by Jinsong Dental has been repeatedly validated over time and, due to shifts in development strategy, has become an indispensable component.

Jinsong Dental’s “large-clinic model” refers to the provision of one-stop services through multi-departmental collaboration, which helps improve medical efficiency. Jinsong Dental has further subdivided its departments and recruited specialized dentists accordingly, enabling it to deliver targeted professional dental care based on patients’ specific oral health issues. Ma Zhixin pointed out that cross-departmental collaboration will directly translate into improved diagnostic and treatment efficiency as well as an enhanced patient experience.

From the perspective of corporate moats, the oral care consumer sector places greater emphasis on a company’s one-stop service capabilities. Many consumers begin making systematic consumption decisions regarding oral health starting with routine teeth cleaning. Meanwhile, driven by emerging consumer concepts such as teeth whitening, orthodontics, and halitosis treatment, dental medical institutions are required to engage in an increasing number of consumer touchpoints, making resource integration progressively more complex.

In the process of establishing standardized dental care services, Jinsong Dental’s “large-clinic model” plays a role in “empowering medical practice.” The development history of Jinsong Dental can be outlined into four stages:

Phase I: “Single-Clinic Model Period.” In 2005, Jinsong Dental originated from a single clinic located on Jinsong Middle Street in Chaoyang District, Beijing. At that time, it was difficult to establish standardization across clinical departments, services, and treatment protocols, relying instead largely on the self-motivation and conscientiousness of internal staff.

Phase Two: “Early Stage of the Large-Store Model.” With its gradual expansion within Beijing, Jinsong Dental organized its standard operating procedures (SOPs), established workflow layouts in larger-format clinics, clearly defined the “large-store model,” and maintained strict control over service quality, thereby making standardized service delivery possible.

Phase Three: “Mid-Stage of the Large-Clinic Model”In recent years, Jinsong Dental has continuously upgraded the hardware and software capabilities of its clinics, while steadily strengthening and enhancing standardized operational processes. Meanwhile, Jinsong Dental has embarked on a new phase of brand development, solidifying its regional service coverage, unifying its brand image, and ensuring effective brand maintenance through higher recruitment standards and improved staff training quality.

Phase Four: “Maturity of the Large-Clinic Model.” During its continuous development, Jinsong Dental introduced two renowned investment institutions: Taikang Insurance Group and Jinyi Capital. Following this capital infusion, Jinsong Dental entered a phase of large-scale replication.

Yao Feng'e:"From the perspective of Jinsong Dental's large-scale expansion, is it still centered in Beijing?"

Ma Zhixin:Jinsong Dental has proposed a long-term strategy of “rooted in Beijing, expanding nationwide.” Amid its rapid, incremental scale-up, Jinsong Dental’s primary competitors are currently within the local Beijing dental market. The decision to establish Beijing as Jinsong Dental’s home base stems precisely from the fact that Beijing is at the forefront of China’s dental healthcare industry development.

Oral healthcare possesses consumer-oriented attributes, with its primary clientele consisting of middle- and high-income individuals. Residents in first- and second-tier cities demonstrate greater awareness of oral health and higher purchasing power. As the city with the second-highest per capita disposable income nationwide, Beijing naturally attracts a larger population concerned about oral health.

Yao Feng'e:From a single clinic to the “large-clinic model,” and then to standardization. What challenges did you encounter during these four different stages of scaled expansion?

Ma Zhixin:The dental healthcare industry has long exhibited, and will continue to exhibit for the foreseeable future, a highly fragmented landscape characterized by a high degree of autonomy among medical professionals. In particular, delivering standardized services poses a significant challenge, especially when compared with the scaled expansion of dental care institutions.

The realization of standardized oral healthcare services urgently requires value transfer and effective information exchange among stakeholders across the service chain, effectively connecting and aligning various roles including medical professionals, nursing staff, service personnel, operations teams, and pre-sales, in-sales, and after-sales support, thereby strengthening the foundational infrastructure of service delivery. To be honest, there has been very little industry experience to draw upon in the past.

Yao Feng'e:Jinsong Dental introduced digital dental CT scanners in 2017, comprehensively advancing the digitization of dental care. In 2021, the Jinsong Dental International Department established the Precision Digital Dental Diagnosis and Treatment Center. This April, Jinsong Dental incorporated AI-powered dental imaging technology and launched a digital dental check-up package. In light of the trends in digital dental diagnosis and treatment, please share your insights on the digitization of dentistry.

Ma Zhixin:Digital dentistry enhances the precision of clinical diagnosis and delivers accurate treatment to patients, which constitutes the fundamental logic of the entire dental healthcare industry. A Precision Digital Dental Diagnosis and Treatment Center can further improve the accuracy of patient care, enhance patient comfort during medical visits, strengthen clinicians’ diagnostic judgment, and increase treatment efficiency.

Oral healthcare services possess certain unique characteristics. Historically, patient diagnosis was “physician-centered.” However, given the high degree of subspecialization within dentistry and the strong professional expertise of dentists, coupled with the complexity of intraoral conditions, medical institutions, from a standpoint of responsibility, must conduct a comprehensive assessment of intraoral issues when patients seek care and provide targeted treatment plans.

Yao Feng'e:Beyond the model shifts driven by technological innovation, we are also witnessing the emergence of new business models. For instance, Jinsong Dental has received investment from an insurance company, giving rise to models such as “Insurance + Hospital” and DSO (Dental Support Organization). What initiatives has Jinsong Dental undertaken in terms of business model innovation, and what are its future plans?

Ma Zhixin:Jinsong Dental will take the CDSO industry alliance, formed in partnership with Taikang Bybo Dental, Happy Dental, and Malo Clinic, as its benchmark. From streamlining SOPs for participating institutions, controlling medical quality, managing risks, and enhancing services to formulating industry standards, Jinsong Dental is committed to meticulously standardizing and extending its dental service empowerment to institutions in other regions. This initiative aims not only to generate economic benefits by improving diagnostic and treatment capabilities but also to play a genuine leading role in the industry.

Yao Feng'e:Jinsong Dental is currently facing significant competitive pressure, as numerous institutions are bullish on the Beijing dental healthcare market. Compared with other competitors, what are Jinsong Dental’s differentiated advantages?

Ma Zhixin:Is the differentiated advantage a matter of price differences? Physician differences? Service differences? Differences in institutional hardware capabilities? I believe these all constitute differences, but not core differences. The core difference lies in conceptual or philosophical distinctions.

We have spent nearly two decades deeply cultivating Beijing’s dental healthcare market, addressing patients’ oral health issues and continuously enhancing our medical service standards. Looking ahead, we will adhere to a sustainable development strategy and uphold the values of “long-termism.” In this context, economic benefits align, in a sense, with our service philosophy. True differentiated competitive advantage is built upon respect for medicine, patients, the market, and peers, which enables us to maintain a sound mindset over the long term. This commitment serves as the driving force that keeps us moving steadily in the right direction.

Our core philosophy, as defined by our corporate values, is “Customer Satisfaction, Employee Well-being.” This approach stems from our respect for healthcare and for patients. By fostering a sense of well-being and belonging among the majority of our employees who are healthcare professionals, we empower them to delve deeply into medical expertise and consistently deliver high-quality medical services to patients. This, in essence, is tantamount to respecting patients. We believe that healthcare institutions failing to excel in medical care lack dignity and are unsustainable.

Scan the QR code to register for the Oral Care 50 Project