The global prosthetics market, worth 20 trillion won, has been focused on crowns and laminates. “With Minish, you can restore damaged teeth without unnecessarily removing them, and make them as functional and aesthetic as your own teeth,” says Dr. Jungho Kang, CEO of Minish Technology.
Dr. Kang Jung-ho, a dentist by training, founded Minish Technology in 2021 to challenge the 20 trillion won prosthetic market as a game changer. In 2005, he opened a dental clinic in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, and started his practice with three principles: ‘no harm,’ ‘no excess,’ and ‘pain-free treatment. In 2009, he moved to a new location near Seolleung Station and named the clinic ‘Today’s Dental Clinic’ to signify that patients can comfortably complete their prosthetic treatment on the same day. At that time, the clinic received great response from patients for its convenience by offering ‘one visit, same-day treatment’ using 3D cadcams for treatments that took at least five days. After expanding and moving to its current building in Nonhyeon-dong in 2018, the clinic changed its signage to Minish Dental Hospital, putting Minish in the forefront based on the clinical cases and theoretical basis accumulated over the years.
Dr. Kang’s treatment principles have also influenced the Minish technology. “I wanted to develop materials with similar properties to natural teeth and create a processing facility with high precision,” he says, and after years of researching treatments that minimize damage to patients’ teeth, he arrived at the MINISH methodology. MINISH stands for Minimal Invasive, Natural Image, and Successful Health, and is a restorative treatment method based on biomimetic theory.
“Minish Technology is a medical technology company that supplies Minish, a tooth restoration solution,” said Mr. Kang. “We supply Minish for the operation of Minish Member’s Clinic and provide integrated marketing with the goal of ‘writing my teeth for life’ and ‘providing an efficient treatment system for dental industry workers’,” he explained.
What motivated you to start a related company and become an entrepreneur as the head of a well-known hospital in Korea?
While treating patients with existing equipment and materials, I felt limited in my ability to approach my idealized treatment. While laminates are known as an aesthetic treatment and are more conservative and universal than crowns, which remove 360 degrees of tooth, I wondered, “Is this something I would recommend to my family? He immersed himself in researching alternatives to laminates by purchasing state-of-the-art equipment and hiring skilled technicians. In the process of striving to reduce tooth loss, Minish was born. The idea of creating a more precise processing facility also influenced the founding of the company. He also realized that many people in the dental industry were struggling with excessive work and complicated company management systems. Minish Technology’s mission is to provide an efficient practice system for the dental industry.
I know Minish is a new dental treatment system. What makes Minish unique and different?
Minish treatments do not remove any teeth unnecessarily, but only minimally clean them. One of its advantages is that it does not feel foreign to the teeth. Minish’s core competence lies in its ultra-precise machining technology, which allows it to accommodate different bends and thicknesses. Against the prejudice that it is impossible to make thin restorations out of ceramic materials, the company has been able to create restorations that can fit any bend down to 0.1 millimeters. The ultra-precise machining technology was advanced in collaboration with Reno Corporation, the world’s No. 1 manufacturer of semiconductor test equipment. Also, the adhesive technology is important due to the thin thickness. Only Minish Technology applies its know-how in adhesive technology to the treatment. In addition, Minish Block is striving to obtain materials that are identical to natural teeth by exclusively sourcing from Vita, a global dental material company.
I was wondering how far you can go with Minish at this point.
Most patients utilize Minish to straighten crooked teeth, crooked teeth, and extra teeth. Minish is a popular choice for straightening teeth because, unlike orthodontics, which involves attaching appliances to the teeth and repositioning them, Minish trims and covers protrusions and fills in recesses. While laminates are not commonly used to treat molars, Minish can be used to repair molars, which are subjected to more than three times the force of front teeth.
It will be difficult to be a game changer in the existing prosthodontic market, which is dominated by laminates, crowns, etc.
My challenge was to scientifically and logically prove ‘why Minish’ to an already established prosthetic market. With Minish, it was not easy to prove why it lasts longer, why it doesn’t fall out, etc. The safety and reliability of medical care is proportional to time and number of cases. Even the best theories need to be proven. We have been practicing this treatment for 16 years and have accumulated more than 150,000 clinical cases. As the perception of Minish has changed, more and more doctors want to learn how to treat Minish. To keep up with this demand, the Minish Academy is being organized for dentists.
I know you have an ambition to be a company for people in the dental industry.
One of the reasons we founded Minish Technology was to be a company for people in the dental industry. Since most dental clinics are private practices, they tend to be overworked. By combining the know-how of running small dental clinics and large dental hospitals with Minish Technology’s advanced equipment and the latest medical technology, Minish Technology provides “dental consulting that saves lives” from opening a neighborhood dental clinic to supporting operations, taxation, and management. With Minish Technology’s solution, healthcare workers can shorten their existing workday to see more patients and work 3.5 days a week. The solution also allows for same-day treatment.
What is the revenue structure of Minish Technology?
Since the company’s founding in 2021, revenue has been doubling every year and is expected to exceed 10 billion won this year. Our main sources of revenue are solution fees and monthly membership fees from our 31 Minish Members Clinics. In terms of investment, we are looking for investors who respect our value system and can work with us, rather than financial investors who are looking for returns. Minish Technology’s shareholders are dentists who treat with Minish, patients who have been treated with Minish, and Minish’s supporters. Shareholders are the owners of the company. The answer to the question of who should be a shareholder is obvious. Shareholders shouldn’t just be people who invest money, but people who recognize the value of Minish. We believe that people who understand the benefits of Minish treatment and the value of this technology will be the best shareholders for our company. In April, the company received an investment of 4 billion won from Robot & Design, a company specializing in advanced robotics and automation equipment. This brings the total amount of investment to 15 billion won. The funds will be used to further develop Minish.
I understand that you are actively expanding overseas as well as domestically. What are your future plans for Minish Technology?
The end goal is to make Minish available not only domestically but also internationally. The demand for Minish Academy and Minish Members’ Clinic is growing both at home and abroad. In response to this, the largest machine shop in Korea with 50 milling machines will soon open. The company is also actively planning to expand overseas to meet global demand in Vietnam, Japan, the United States, and Canada. In the U.S., the company plans to introduce treatment cases and hold an academy utilizing Minish, and in Vietnam, Binh Mek International General Hospital in Hanoi has already included Minish among its treatment items. In Japan, the company plans to hold a Minish Academy for 15 Japanese doctors in November and a Minish Seminar for 100 doctors in Japan in February next year.
In addition, various technological advancements have been made during the development of Minish, such as equipment sophistication and adhesive upgrades. In the future, it is expected that AI prep machines that automate tooth design by combining with AI or take care of tooth preparation that doctors used to do by hand will soon be commercialized. Kyungmi Yeo Reporter
Read the full article