YaQiqi Restructures to Build a Tiered Dental Care Platform Starting with Dentist Training

In China, public awareness of dental health care remains very weak.

A plethora of conceptually hyped toothpastes, the widespread proliferation of dental clinic chains (Legend Holdings’ RMB 1 billion investment in Bybo Dental once caused a sensation), and numerous mobile health initiatives in the dental sector have all emerged, targeting this market with confidence in their ability to stimulate its growth.

The sampling survey results of the Third National Oral Health Epidemiological Survey, released in 2007, indicated a high prevalence of dental caries among middle-aged and elderly individuals in China. The prevalence rates reached 88.1% in the 35–44 age group and 98.4% in the 65–74 age group, while the treatment rate remained below 10%. Dental caries is a bacterial disease that can lead to various secondary inflammatory conditions; delayed treatment may result in the complete destruction and loss of teeth.

Of course, dental services are highly correlated with the level of economic development, particularly with households’ disposable income. Over the past decade, the per capita disposable income of urban residents in China has grown at an average annual rate of more than 10%, reaching RMB 31,195 in 2015. This has made the outlook for the dental industry even more optimistic.

Relevant data indicate that there are 250 million dental visits annually in China, with an average transaction value per patient ranging from RMB 300 to RMB 400, resulting in a market size of RMB 70 billion to RMB 100 billion. Among these, the market size in first-tier cities is growing by 18%–20% annually, while that in second-tier cities is increasing by 13%–15% per year. Based on these figures, it is projected that over the next five years, the number of dental visits in China will rise to 500 million, and the service market size will exceed RMB 200 billion.

Taking orthodontic services as an example, clear aligner therapy in particular has demonstrated a rapid growth trend. According to statistics from Henry Schein, the number of orthodontic cases in China was 1.45 million and 1.63 million in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The number of clear aligner cases was 35,000 and 58,000, respectively, representing growth rates of 12% and 61%.

Yaqiqi, established in 2014, primarily focuses on remote consultations for orthodontics. Its original intention was to enable patients in regions with less advanced medical resources to receive professional orthodontic treatment comparable to that available in more developed areas through its platform. However, during operations, it became evident that relying solely on the internet cannot fully address all challenges in dental healthcare. Each patient’s condition is unique; if clinics have limited capabilities, remote guidance from specialists to local dentists yields only limited therapeutic outcomes and fails to comprehensively resolve issues between doctors and patients.

Remote consultations in orthodontics have improved treatment efficiency to some extent, but they are far from being an essential need. Only by enhancing the conditions of dental clinics can we truly address the challenges faced by patients and better alleviate tensions in doctor-patient relationships. Therefore, against the backdrop of limited effectiveness of remote orthodontic treatments and the urgent need to improve clinic conditions, Yaqiqi has initiated a business transformation.

Meanwhile, in March, the company secured several million yuan in financing, led by a medical chain institution and co-invested by the Chaozhou Ceramic Industry Fund and Chen Jiabin, founder of 58.com’s technology division.

Currently, the core team members of Yaqiqi are predominantly professionals from the "internet healthcare" sector. The CEO, Yu Zibo, will be primarily responsible for steering the company’s business model transformation. He previously served as Vice President of a mobile health company and possesses extensive experience in big health brand building, medical investment, and internet healthcare marketing.

According to Yaqiqi’s statement to VCBeat, the company will abandon its positioning as a telemedicine platform and instead focus on dental training as an entry point to build a tiered diagnosis and treatment system for dentistry.

Currently, there are over 60,000 dental clinics in China. The industry is highly market-oriented, with a high rate of multi-site practice and a large patient base. However, these clinics also exhibit a polarized landscape, with a key issue being the severe shortage of dentists and the uneven quality of their professional competence.

In 2013, China had one dentist per 10,000 people. By comparison, the figure was 8 in Japan (2010), 5.8 in Canada (2008), 5.3 in the United Kingdom (2012), and approximately 10 in the United States. It is understood that 5–10% of dentists are willing to spend RMB 20,000 annually on relevant continuing education and training. Preliminary estimates place the size of China’s dentist training market at nearly RMB 300 million in 2015.

Ya Qiqi is currently collaborating with experts from multiple renowned dental hospitals to develop systematic training courses for dentists. While the program is open to all dentists, its primary target audience consists of dentists from the hundreds of partner clinics that Ya Qiqi plans to establish in Guangdong Province.

Following its initial engagement through training services, Yaqiqi will further assist these clinics in achieving standardized and branded operational management by providing store renovation services, establishing referral channels, and offering supply chain financial services, thereby laying the groundwork for a tiered dental diagnosis and treatment system.

According to Yu Zibo, the company primarily selects well-known local dental clinics in various counties and cities as the foundational entry points for its platform. The current state of the dental clinic industry is such that clinics with leading local reputations often have a high patient volume, yet they rely heavily on the personal influence of their owners. These clinics struggle to scale up, have a low rate of succession by family members, and the traditional master-apprentice model is clearly failing to keep pace with the rapid advancements in the dental profession.

Furthermore, the urgent need for upgrades in many long-established clinics is pressing. Relevant data indicate that 15% of current dental clinics in China are legacy practices established over the past few decades, with management and hardware infrastructure significantly outdated. Due to this lag in technology and services, the income levels of most dentists fall far short of those of senior dentists, with the disparity reaching more than tenfold in some cases.

Therefore, the company first enhances the professional competence of clinic dentists through specialized training, and then supports local clinics in upgrading their hardware, expanding their scale, or opening branch locations by facilitating equipment upgrades, brand unification (via franchising), and centralized supply of consumables.

Leveraging the talent pool accumulated through its training operations, Yaqiqi will also provide dentists with practice consulting, career planning, advisory, and headhunting services, enhancing their professional skills through vocational training.

Meanwhile, the company will also establish flagship stores at the municipal level, primarily offering relatively high-end or technically complex services, and facilitating referrals for patients from smaller cities to partner medical institutions such as Guangdong Provincial Stomatological Hospital and Guanghua School of Stomatology Hospital. In the past, primary care clinics lacked the incentive to refer patients upward. To address this challenge, Yaqiqi will collaborate with primary care clinics by jointly investing in higher-level clinics, thereby aligning the interests of primary care clinic owners with those of the municipal flagship stores.

Ya Qiqi’s parent company, Guangzhou Kayin Information Technology Co., Ltd., has organized multiple industry conferences for the Professional Committees of the Guangdong Stomatological Association, thereby accumulating extensive resources of dental experts. The company’s numerous public-welfare initiatives have also garnered support from many experts, including Professor Cai Bin, Standing Committee Member of the Orthodontics Professional Committee of the Chinese Stomatological Association, Chairman of the Guangdong Orthodontics Professional Committee, and Director of the Department of Orthodontics at the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.

In addition, Yaqiqi is currently constructing the Jizhi Stomatological Hospital in Chaozhou. In the future, this hospital will serve as a benchmark and model for other clinics joining its network, as well as an important offline training base. The Jizhi Stomatological Hospital in Chaozhou has a total construction area of 2,000 square meters, with plans to install 20 comprehensive dental treatment chairs and various instruments, and to employ 15–20 dentists, aiming to achieve an average daily volume of 1,000 patient visits. According to Yu Zibo, Yaqiqi already has more than 30 dental clinics affiliated with its platform.