Who is Mustafa Kemal Bilgiç?
I have always enjoyed solving problems and developing systematic solutions for them. For many years, I pursued this passion in the field of law, specialising particularly in Trademark and Patent Law.
This interest was also at the forefront throughout my education. Through my studies in law, philosophy, and sociology, I learned to approach problems from different perspectives. I then received a merit scholarship from the Swedish Institute and completed a master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law.
During this period, I began working in an innovative field where I could create a broader impact beyond the boundaries of law. This is how the foundations of Dentalpiyasa were laid. Today, I devote all my energy to the digitalisation of the dental industry and to driving a fundamental transformation in this field.
For me, Dentalpiyasa is not just a business. It is a space where I bring my passion for solving problems and creating value to life.
We would like to hear about Dentalpiyasa from you. Could you tell us a little about it?
Dentalpiyasa is Türkiye’s first dental products marketplace, bringing dentists and dental suppliers together. Our story began in 2015, when we realised that the dental industry was still operating in a pre-e-commerce era. In Türkiye, dental products changed hands an average of five times between leaving the importer and reaching the dentist. Moreover, the lack of price transparency made a fair competitive environment impossible. We set out with the idea of solving these fundamental problems, and Dentalpiyasa was born.
Since the legal regulations in Türkiye did not yet allow a dental marketplace, we focused on infrastructure development until 2020. The relevant regulations had changed in the United States in the 1990s and in the European Union in the 2010s, and they finally came into force in Türkiye in September 2020. The day after the new regulation took effect, we added the first dental supplier that believed in our vision to the platform.
Today, one in every five dentists in Türkiye uses Dentalpiyasa. Likewise, 89% of medium-sized and large dental suppliers sell through Dentalpiyasa. To date, we have successfully connected dentists with more than 150,000 dental products, while always prioritising dentist satisfaction throughout every stage of the process.
What innovations and trends are expected in the dental products market as of 2025?
One of the biggest changes in the market in recent years has been the rapidly increasing number of newly graduated dentists, which has fundamentally transformed the competitive environment in the industry. We expect the number of dentists in Türkiye to triple and exceed 100,000 within the next three years. Despite this, we predict that the frequency of dental visits and overall demand will remain stable.
When we look at this picture, the combination of increasing competition and stable demand makes it essential for dentists to manage their clinics more efficiently than ever before. By 2025, we believe competitive pricing and transparent supply processes will become even more important, while the impact of e-commerce on the dental industry will continue to grow. As Dentalpiyasa, we will continue to lead this transformation and introduce new innovations to the sector.
How do you evaluate competition in your industry? What features make Dentalpiyasa stand out from its competitors?
At Dentalpiyasa, we believe our main competitive challenge is conventional sales methods and dentists’ established habits. Since there is no direct equivalent to the work we do or the value proposition we offer at this level, our goals have always focused on transforming the industry and creating new habits.
Our strongest advantage is undoubtedly our team. A very large proportion of the work we do at Dentalpiyasa is being done for the first time in the dental industry. Since we are the ones opening these paths, we wake up each day to completely new problems and the need to find solutions for them. Therefore, having a team that is dynamic, creative, and capable of implementing technical innovations is the most important feature that sets us apart.
Who is Dentalpiyasa’s target audience? What approach do you follow to reach them?
Our target audience includes all stakeholders in the dental industry, such as dentists, dental suppliers, dental students, and dental prosthesis technicians. Since each stakeholder has different habits and perspectives, we use many different methods, ranging from active field visits and digital marketing to SEO activities and participation in industry events. In this way, we both increase our brand awareness and build strong relationships with our users.
How do you evaluate customer feedback? Have you made any significant changes based on this feedback?
At Dentalpiyasa, we develop new hypotheses every day and test them using a wide range of methods. User feedback is one of the most valuable sources among these methods. For this reason, as part of our company culture, we place great importance on every user’s feedback and include it in all of our decision-making processes.
For example, we developed Pera AI, the world’s first AI-powered dental product recommendation assistant, which we recently announced, entirely by considering the challenges our users experienced during the product search process.
Dentalpiyasa has also been redesigned from the ground up three times so far. We needed to make these changes because we learn something new from our users every day.
Ultimately, user feedback is the most important guide shaping Dentalpiyasa’s growth and development process. Listening to the needs of our users is one of our greatest passions.
How do you evaluate the impact of SEO and other digital marketing strategies on your business?
The majority of dentists who place an order through Dentalpiyasa are shopping online for their clinics for the first time. For this reason, our persuasion process is much more challenging compared to other e-commerce sectors.
While our SEO efforts help us become discoverable, our digital marketing strategies focus on building stronger relationships with the dentists who discover us. The combination of these two approaches plays a critical role in Dentalpiyasa’s growth and in encouraging dentists to adopt new purchasing methods.
Finally, what are Dentalpiyasa’s future goals and vision? Could you tell us about your development plans for your products and services?
At Dentalpiyasa, we aim to make oral and dental healthcare services more accessible to every segment of society. We believe we can achieve this goal by increasing the efficiency of our stakeholders, namely dentists and dental suppliers. We also believe that the first step in this transformation is the democratisation of dental product procurement.
Today, we are the leader of this transformation, and we continue to develop innovations that will add value to the industry. Among our future plans, logistics and fintech-based solutions that will further accelerate the transformation of the dental sector are among our top priorities.
