The dental industry is still struggling with longstanding workforce shortages that threaten patient care and practice sustainability, but there is hope on the horizon.
Here are eight new statistics on the dental workforce, according to data from Dentalpost and the American Dental Association:
1. Dental assistants are the likeliest dental professionals to be seeking new opportunities, with 47% considering changing jobs within the next two years.
2. Sixteen percent of dental assistants plan to retire within the next five years.
3. Seventeen percent of hygienists have switched jobs in the last year.
4. Seventy-three percent of hygienists said they plan to stay in their current role.
5. Twenty-seven percent of hygienists said they plan to retire in the next five years.
6. Nearly one in five hygienists has been with their current employer for more than two decades.
7. Pediatric dentistry has seen the largest increase in the workforce since 2001.
8. Although the supply of dentists in the U.S. has increased by 24% since 2001, that growth has slowed in recent years due to an increase in retirement.
