Speed, Smiles & Misalignment: The Business Dilemma in Digital Dentistry

India’s orthodontics market is booming. But it has brought in its wake an uncomfortable question: can growth tactics borrowed from consumer tech survive in a category built on trust? 

As clear aligners and digital dentistry scale rapidly, orthodontics is no longer marketed like a medical service alone. It is being sold like an app—optimised funnels, digital-first acquisition, speed, convenience and aggressive conversion. The shift has unlocked demand at scale. It has also exposed fault lines. 

Globally, the orthodontics market was valued at $7.21 billion in 2024 and is projected to surge to $23.48 billion by 2033, growing at a 14% CAGR, according to Straits Research. India has emerged as a key growth engine within this expansion, driven by rising awareness of dental alignment, demand for aesthetic dentistry, improving healthcare infrastructure and dental tourism. 

That growth has intensified competition. Brands are no longer differentiating only on clinical outcomes. They are competing on ease of access, turnaround time and customer acquisition efficiency. Global players such as Ortho Organizers and 3M have expanded their footprint, while innovation continues to flow in. In July 2025, Align Technology launched the Invisalign Palatal Expander System in India after regulatory approval, signalling growing confidence in the market’s scale. 

But the boom comes with hard constraints. 

Advanced orthodontic treatments—clear aligners, lingual braces and customised 3D-printed devices—require expensive technology, skilled specialists and premium materials, pushing up costs. As prices rise, so does the pressure on brands to convert demand quickly and efficiently. 

That pressure is reshaping business models. 

Direct-to-consumer orthodontics brands such as Toothsi, operated by MakeO Healthcare Technologies, have adopted digital-first acquisition strategies, offering virtual consultations and digitally managed treatment journeys. The approach mirrors a broader trend across consumer healthcare, where companies apply consumer-tech playbooks—pricing experiments, funnel optimisation and performance marketing—to scale fast in fragmented markets. 

For many consumers, the model delivers convenience. For others, it raises questions. 

Across social media and review platforms, some users have flagged concerns around how consultations, pricing and sales processes intersect. While these accounts are anecdotal and not determinative evidence, they point to a recurring tension: where does growth efficiency end and trust erosion begin? 

OPEN sent detailed questions to Toothsi founder Arpi Mehta. The company, however, declined to comment. 

“Predictability, safety and trust are non-negotiable brand values in consumer healthcare,” says Abhimanyu Roy, executive director at Avalon Consulting. Customer delight, he argues, cannot come at the cost of basic quality thresholds. “Once that line is crossed, reputational damage is often irreversible.” 

The risk intensifies when marketing ambition outpaces operational capability, a pattern Roy says is becoming more visible as D2C healthcare expands across eye care, dental services, dialysis and fertility treatment. In recent years, several healthcare startups have faced backlash over allegations of aggressive conversion practices, underscoring how quickly trust can evaporate when commercial logic dominates transparency. 

As India’s orthodontics market marches toward a projected $23.48 billion opportunity by 2033, analysts say the winners won’t just be those who scale fastest but those who recognise trust as a commercial constraint, not a branding afterthought. 

Celebrity endorsements and venture capital can accelerate growth. But in healthcare-adjacent businesses, trust is both the engine and the brake. How brands balance that tension may ultimately decide who endures when the market matures.