The proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act has several provisions that could hinder students’ ability to pursue careers in dentistry and medicine, according to Barry Lyon, DDS.
Dr. Lyon, the dental director for Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics and the chief clinical auditor for Dental Care Alliance, connected with Becker’s to discuss how the bill package could worsen workforce shortages in healthcare.
Editor’s note: This Q&A is part of a weekly series featuring Dr. Lyon focused on topics in the dental industry and DSO field. The views expressed are those of Dr. Lyon and do not necessarily reflect those of Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics or Dental Care Alliance.
This response was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Dr. Barry Lyon:
The future availability of dentists is being jeopardized by President Trump’s domestic policy bill. The bill includes the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan. If the bill is passed, there would be monumental changes to federal student loan programs and the elimination of the Grad PLUS loan program. This would severely limit access to federal loans for graduate and professional students beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year. There would be a cap of $150,000 on federal loans for professional education and exclude medical and dental residency from the definition of “qualifying jobs” under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
Dental school tuition can range anywhere from $120,000–$424,000, while medical school tuition can range from $286,450–$390,850. This does not include the cost of post-graduate education. Clearly, the number of individuals capable of acquiring dental or medical degrees would be severely hampered.
The Trump administration wants to cut Medicaid funding, which would severely limit access to care. It wants to remove fluoride from community water supplies, which would create a public health crisis and significantly increase healthcare costs. It also wants to decrease available funding to future dentists and physicians. Hmm, what could go wrong?
