Taikang Dental Launches Premium Oral Healthcare Ecosystem Integrating Insurance and Medical Services

The integration of medical insurance and dental care has taken another step forward.

On the morning of August 6, Taikang officially launched its new premium dental brand, “Taikang Dental,” at the World Health Expo in Wuhan, while the Taikang Dental Hang Lung Clinic in Wuhan also commenced operations.

After four years of establishing its presence in the dental sector through Taikang ByBo Dental, Taikang Dental will serve as a new oral care scenario to implement Taikang’s “Payment + Service” health closed-loop model, launching new explorations into the integration of dental medical services and insurance.

Time may need to go back to 2018.

In June 2018, Taikang made a strategic investment in ByBo Dental, and renamed it Taikang ByBo Dental in December of the same year.

Subsequently, ByBo Oral Medical Group began exploring the “Kaiser model” in the field of oral healthcare services. Under this model, customers can purchase dental insurance products from Taikang Insurance Group and receive corresponding oral healthcare services based on their specific coverage plans when seeking treatment.

Taikang’s intentions are clear: it seeks to build a synergistic closed-loop ecosystem between commercial insurance and specialized dental care services by integrating a “payment + service” model. Its implementation requires innovation on the payment side and further improvements in the accessibility of medical services.

To date, Taikang ByBo Oral has expanded its presence to over 50 cities across China, operating nearly 200 clinics. While further enhancing service accessibility, Taikang is also strengthening its exploration of dental health insurance products on the payment side. It has currently launched more than 40 dental insurance products, covering a wide range of needs from pediatric to adult care and from prevention to treatment.

The synergy between Taikang and Taikang ByBo Dental has yielded tangible results. Zhu Zhenghong, Vice President of Taikang Health Investment and CEO of Taikang ByBo Dental, pointed out that over the past four years, Taikang ByBo Dental has achieved deeper integration with the group. In the first half of 2022, Taikang’s insurance channels contributed nearly 20% of Taikang ByBo Dental’s revenue. Meanwhile, Taikang ByBo Dental has provided strong support for the implementation of Taikang’s dental medical services and driven growth in the revenue of Taikang’s dental health insurance products.

How to better achieve synergy and generate a “1+1>2” effect, building on a revenue contribution of up to 20%, has become the focal point for both parties.

ByBo Oral Medical Group Rendering

Amidst the industry-wide adoption of dual-brand strategies by numerous enterprises, in addition to the “Taikang ByBo Dental” brand, Taikang has launched a new brand, “Taikang Dental,” specifically targeting its current high-end customer base. This initiative aims to establish premium oral health management services covering the entire user lifecycle, thereby further meeting the needs of high-value customers.

This also marks a further deepening of Taikang Dental Insurance’s integration strategy, representing a new starting point for the in-depth convergence of oral health insurance and physical oral healthcare services.

Historically, patients typically sought care at dental clinics or hospitals only after oral health issues had already arisen. Most dental service providers offer limited, episodic, and single-procedure treatments. Insufficient attention to oral health often prevents patients from accessing early prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, causing them to miss the optimal window for intervention and resulting in increased disease burden and financial costs.

On one hand, patients struggle to fundamentally safeguard their oral health; on the other, consumer demand is growing, with people eager to protect their oral health by addressing disease prevention at its source. National policies are also encouraging relevant enterprises to shift their focus from “treatment” to “prevention.” The State Council’s Opinions on Implementing the Healthy China Action propose promoting supply-side structural reform in health services, providing systematic and integrated services spanning prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and daily health management. This aims to gradually transform the current disease-centered service model into a health-centered one, launching a full-cycle health initiative encompassing prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Zhu Zhenghong, Vice President of Taikang Health Investment and CEO of Taikang ByBo Dental, Introduces Taikang Dental’s Philosophy and Products

The integration of oral health insurance with dental medical services is undoubtedly one of the ways to break through the current situation. However, in this process, there often exists a disconnect between payers and service providers. To better address this issue, Zhu Zhenghong stated, “We hope that in the future, users will purchase Taikang Oral Health Insurance and receive medical services at Taikang medical institutions, thereby forming a closed loop. Only when both the payer and the service provider are Taikang can we ensure the provision of high-quality, ultimate experience services to the greatest extent.”

The launch of the new ByBo Oral brand represents, to some extent, a practical exploration and realization of this ideal state. Currently, ByBo Oral integrates its services across pre-consultation, intra-treatment, and post-treatment phases, providing customers with a full-lifecycle health management experience throughout the entire diagnosis and treatment process. Through the "Tai Shenghuo ByBo Oral" mini-program and Enterprise WeChat, customers can access online private dental consultations and diagnostic services, along with a series of follow-up services ranging from appointment scheduling to post-operative reminders, thereby enjoying customized, exclusive, and systematic service solutions anytime and anywhere.

Meanwhile, “ByBo Oral” has innovatively introduced the service concept of “oral health management,” dedicated to helping clients establish good oral health habits and truly promoting a shift in patients’ mindset from “treatment” to “prevention.”

From simple dental treatments to today’s health management covering the entire life cycle of patients’ oral health, ByBo Oral Medical Group is further achieving in-depth exploration of its services.

Implementing high-end dental medical services may not be an issue that ByBo Oral needs to address.

For the dental healthcare industry, the greatest challenge lies in the fact that dental services are often constrained by the supply of physician resources. Leveraging nearly three decades of medical expertise accumulated by Taikang ByBo Oral in the dental sector, Taikang Oral has established a comprehensive medical management system encompassing physician development, technology, clinical case management, and academic discipline construction. It boasts expert teams covering all major dental specialties, including orthodontics, implantology, periodontics, aesthetic restoration, and pediatric dentistry, thereby enabling Taikang Oral to deliver high-quality dental diagnosis and treatment services.

In terms of service model, ByBo Oral has established a “general dentist first-visit + specialist care” model. In brief, upon initial consultation, patients undergo a comprehensive oral examination by a general dentist, who formulates a tailored, comprehensive treatment plan; when patients have specific needs or encounter complex and challenging cases, they are referred to specialists for further care.

To better provide high-quality services to patients, ByBo Oral Medical Group focuses on three key areas: safe dental care, comfortable dental care, and convenient dental care.

In terms of safe clinical practice, in response to the deepening aging population, the rising prevalence of underlying conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, and the heightened risks associated with dental procedures, ByBo Oral Medical Group ensures comprehensive patient safety by conducting treatments under precise vital sign monitoring and has established a comprehensive set of standardized medical safety protocols.

In terms of comfortable diagnosis and treatment, patient experience is enhanced through comfort-oriented, humanized, and painless clinical measures. Moreover, patient care has been extended from the pre-consultation phase to the post-consultation stage;

In terms of convenient diagnosis and treatment, ByBo Oral Medical Group emphasizes the principles of “speed, precision, excellence, minimally invasive care, and consistency.” Compared to the traditional 6–10 month timeline for dental implant procedures, ByBo Oral Medical Group has achieved the highly complex technique of “immediate implantation,” enabling extraction of residual roots, implant placement, and permanent restoration within just 1–2 days.

To better showcase the positioning of its new brand, ByBo Oral Medical Group also launched several new products at the press conference: “Family Doctor Appointment,” which offers exclusive private dental services; “Bright Teeth Baby,” designed for comprehensive, lifecycle-oriented preventive care in pediatric dentistry; “Healthy Teeth Worry-Free,” tailored for seniors; and “HMO Long-Term Product,” a long-term oral health insurance product aimed at managing and improving oral health (scheduled for official launch in October).

The provision of these service products also factually confirms that ByBo Oral is not merely a dental medical service provider.

To achieve a closed loop of “payment + services,” accessible medical services must be available at all times.

The Wuhan Taikang Dental Henglong Clinic, announced at the press conference, is the first high-end dental clinic opened by Taikang Insurance Group in Qiaokou District, Wuhan. The clinic is currently equipped with 14 dental chairs and features multiple specialized medical zones, including an A-grade standard infection control supply room, a General Practice Diagnosis and Treatment Center, a Periodontal Care Center, a Digital Implantology Center, a Facial Management Center, and a Pediatric Dentistry Center.

It is evident that the establishment of a single dental clinic cannot resolve the issue of accessibility to oral healthcare services. Zhu Zhenghong pointed out that, in the future, to enhance service accessibility, Taikang Oral Care and Taikang ByBo Dental will open more clinics. Regarding clinic expansion, Taikang will further focus on core cities and developed markets, achieving economies of scale by thoroughly penetrating individual cities through clinic deployments. This strategy aims to address the challenge of healthcare accessibility and ultimately create a closed-loop integration of medical care and insurance.

For ByBo Oral Medical Group, the "Insurance + Healthcare" model enables shared benefits among patients, physicians, medical institutions, and insurance providers. On one hand, integrating medical services with insurance transforms the traditional fee-for-service model, returning to the essence of healthcare and allowing patients to receive superior care and treatment. On the other hand, fostering patients’ awareness and philosophy that “prevention outweighs treatment” promotes proactive health management, which significantly reduces costs while benefiting patients.

While driving patient benefits, ByBo Oral may also further catalyze industry transformation.

Zhu Zhenghong pointed out that in the United States, dental patients with commercial insurance are twice as likely to seek treatment as those without insurance, with a visitation rate exceeding 80% among commercially insured patients. In contrast, in 2019, only 2% of dental treatment costs in China were covered by commercial insurance and government medical insurance, creating a vast “silent market.”

With the implementation of ByBo Oral Medical Group’s “Payment + Service” and “Insurance + Healthcare” models, it is poised to further drive industry transformation, unlock the currently untapped dental market, boost consultation rates for oral diseases, and ultimately improve the nation’s oral health.