Been thinking about the dental sector lately and honestly, there's some interesting plays here if you look beyond the obvious consumer names.

So I stumbled on this angle a few years back when I was sitting in a dentist's chair and noticed all the equipment brands. Got me curious about which publicly traded companies actually power the dental industry. Turns out there's a whole ecosystem of these businesses that most retail investors completely sleep on.

Let me break down what caught my attention. Henry Schein (HSIC) is basically the backbone of American dentistry - they distribute over 120,000 branded products plus another 180,000 private label items to dental practices. About 90% of U.S. dental practices buy from them. That's insane market penetration. The stock has been beaten down but the fundamentals are solid - 2018 showed 5.9% revenue growth to $13.2B with earnings up 11.4%.

Then there's Align Technology (ALGN) with Invisalign. Yeah, everyone knows the brand, but the real story is their iTero scanner business grew 68% in 2018 and now represents 14% of total revenue. That's the kind of diversification that matters. Revenues hit $2B in 2018, up 34%, with net profits jumping 73% year-over-year. Clear upside potential from those levels.

Dentsply Sirona (XRAY) is the consolidation play - they merged Dentsply with Sirona back in 2015 for $5.5B. Integration was rough but they're executing a turnaround now. Cutting costs, exiting non-core businesses, streamlining operations. Analysts were projecting $2.64 earnings per share by fiscal 2020, best performance since 2016.

What's interesting is looking at the dental service organizations and distributors as a category. Patterson Companies (PDCO) is another distributor model - they moved 91% more operating cash flow in their first three quarters of fiscal 2019 despite flat revenue growth. Free cash flow generation was solid at $42.4M after capex. Plus they yield almost 5% with a strong dividend history.

3D Systems (DDD) is the wildcard. Dental segment producing dentures, crowns, surgical guides. CEO mentioned billions in opportunity since almost anyone could benefit from 3D-printed dental solutions. Stock got hammered over the years but the dental application is real.

If you want the consumer angle, Procter & Gamble owns Oral-B and just raised their dividend for the 63rd consecutive year. Church & Dwight (CHD) has been crushing it with their acquisition strategy - Arm & Hammer, Orajel, Waterpik. They delivered 19.4% annualized returns over the past decade, nearly double P&G.

The whole sector is interesting because these publicly traded dental service organizations and equipment makers have recurring revenue, strong cash flows, and most retail traders ignore them completely. Worth digging into if you're looking for something outside the usual tech/finance rotation.