Solo practice is shrinking, dental support organization affiliation is climbing and practice ownership is arriving later in dentists’ careers, according to a new report from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute.
“The U.S. Dentist Workforce” draws on the latest available data from multiple sources as of November 2026. Practice size is based on the number of locations a practice has across the U.S., and career stage is based on years out of dental school.
Here are 10 stats to know from the report:
- About one-third of U.S. dentists worked in a solo practice in 2025, meaning a single location with no other dentist. Another 39.2% worked in a single location with at least one other dentist, and 11.8% worked in group practices with 100 or more locations.
- The solo share fell 3.9 percentage points from 36.5% in 2022 to 32.6% in 2025. Over the same period, the share of dentists in practices with 100 or more locations rose 2.8%, from 9% to 11.8%.
- The share of dentists affiliated with a DSO has more than doubled from 7.2% in 2015 to 17% in 2025, an increase of roughly 1 percentage point a year.
- DSO affiliation has risen at every career stage since 2019. Among dentists zero to five years out of dental school, it grew by 10.6 percentage points, from 20.8% to 31.4%. Among dentists more than 25 years out, it grew by 5.5 percentage points, from 4.2% to 9.7%.
- Colorado, Nevada and Oklahoma saw the largest growth in DSO affiliation from 2015 to 2025. About one-quarter or more of dentists are DSO-affiliated in Nevada (29%), Colorado (27%), Georgia (26%), Arizona (25%), Oklahoma (25%) and Florida (25%).
- Among dentists less than five years out of dental school, 52% in Nevada are DSO-affiliated, the only state above 50%. Arizona follows at 45%, then Oklahoma, Georgia and Florida at 43% each and Colorado at 42%. The rate is lowest in South Dakota at 5%, Alaska at 7% and North Dakota and Hawaii at 8% each.
- Practice ownership is arriving later. Ownership rates have declined among early-career dentists in more recent graduating classes, but the report found they appear to catch up by late career. Just 21% of dentists who graduated from 2016 to 2020 owned their practice five to nine years out, while 90% of dentists owned their practice 25 or more years out. The report called ownership delayed, not reduced, and said it still appears to be the “endgame” for most dentists.
- A gender gap in ownership persists at every career stage. Among dentists who graduated from 2016 to 2020, 14% of female dentists owned their practice five to nine years out, compared with 30% of male dentists. After 25 or more years, 85% of female dentists owned their practice, compared with 93% of male dentists.
- Practice size varies widely by state. California has the highest share of dentists in solo practice at 43%, followed by West Virginia at 36%, while Wisconsin (18%) and Minnesota (19%) have the lowest. Georgia (22%), Colorado (20%) and Florida (20%) have the highest shares of dentists in practices with 100 or more locations.
- The share of dentists enrolled as Medicaid providers ranges from 10.7% in New Hampshire to 74.2% in Iowa. The report notes that enrollment does not necessarily mean a dentist actively treats Medicaid patients.
