SDI Limited: transforming smiles worldwide
Bayswater (Wurundjeri Country), Victoria
SDI’s specialist products help dentists across the globe to provide easier, faster and longer-lasting smiles.
About SDI
SDI products help dentists provide easier, faster and longer lasting smiles for patients across the globe. It is a world leader in specialist dental materials including tooth fillings and tooth whitening products. SDI strives to improve oral health by continuously developing products that subscribe to the notion of minimal intervention dentistry.
SDI products are sold to dentists in over 100 countries. Key export markets include Brazil, Germany, Korea, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the UK, Canada and the US. Ninety per cent of all SDI sales are to overseas markets. In addition to its head office in Australia, SDI has fully owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Germany and the US.
Visit SDI website.
SDI's story
Oral disease affects around 3.5 billion people, making it one of the most common health conditions in the world.
Australian Export Awards 2023 International Health winner SDI is helping address this with its specialist dental materials, tooth fillings and tooth whitening products.
SDI products are sold to dentists in over 100 countries. In fact, a whopping 90% of all SDI sales are exports into overseas markets.
In addition to SDI’s head office in Australia, SDI has fully owned subsidiaries in the US, Germany and Brazil.
Minimal intervention for maximum smile
SDI was founded in 1972 with the belief that dentists needed better materials to provide better dental care.
At the time, fillings were limited to lacklustre materials that were hard to use, and left patients embarrassed to openly smile.
Today, SDI strives to improve oral health by developing products that enable minimal intervention dentistry.
This relatively new dentistry frontier focuses on prevention and patient comfort. It seeks to eliminate drills and reduce treatment times, changing the face of modern dentistry.
A dramatically diversified decade
The last 5 years have seen a significant decline in the use of dental amalgam, or silver tooth fillings.
SDI has completely pivoted its amalgam business in this time. Today, rather than being overwhelmingly dependent on amalgam sales, amalgam constitutes a small minority of total sales.
‘This business transformation has only been possible through the diversification borne from an uncompromising R&D program,’ says CEO and Managing Director, Samantha Cheetham.
Stela: a sustainable amalgam alternative
SDI’s primary research pinpointed the key attributes that an amalgam alternative needed.
Partnering with 3 Australian universities, SDI developed Stela, a high-performance composite and amalgam alternative.
Stela is exceptionally strong and ready to place in 15 seconds. It sets without the need for a dental curing light, and eliminates microscopic gaps between the tooth and the filling.
‘These benefits marked a significant advantage for dental procedures that were performed both in-clinic and in rural programs,’ says Cheetham.
Exporting Stela sight-unseen
Stela was launched in March 2023 and has already begun shipping internationally.
‘Many countries have purchased Stela sight unseen, simply based on the product description and early case study videos,’ says Cheetham.
As international health registrations are progressively approved, SDI expects to export Stela to almost all 100 of its current export markets within the next 12 to 24 months.
‘Australia is a small market, so export success is so important for growth,’ says Cheetham.
Marketing from Melbourne to the world
SDI is focused on growing sales in international markets.
‘Choosing new markets is a mixture of assessing market size, competition, regulatory risk and local support required,’ says Cheetham. ‘Ideally, new markets should be geographically near our existing markets so we can leverage similar logistics.’
SDI’s global marketing team is based in Melbourne and oversees the SDI brands worldwide.
‘Our international offices in the US and Brazil support their respective countries. Our German office supports all of Europe,’ says Cheetham.
Strong growth in Asia
While SDI continues to invest in the key regions of Europe and North America, Asia is becoming a significant long-term focus.
Product registration in some Asian regions can take 24 months, with challenging regulation requirements.
SDI is starting to see the fruits of a long-term Asia-based export strategy. Trade to Asia exceeded their target by 11% in the 2023 financial year, with sales surpassing A$7 million.
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