The dental industry is seeing shifts in how dentists practice throughout their career, including more DSO affiliations and delayed practice ownership.
The ADA recently released data on the dentist workforce, including demographics, workplaces and retirement trends.
Here are 15 notes on dentist independence and ownership from the report:
1. About 34% of dentists were practicing in a single location with no other dentist in 2024.
2. About 39% of dentists worked in a practice with a single location with at least one other dentist in 2024.
3. Eleven percent of dentists worked in practices with 100 or more locations in 2024.
4. The percentage of dentists in solo practice varied across states in 2024, with California having the highest share of solo practices at 44%.
5. Minnesota had the lowest share of dentists in solo practice at 18%
6. Early career dentists are less likely to be in solo practice than more experienced dentists.
7. The share of dentist owners has decreased over the years, with 84.7% of dentists owning practices in 2005, and 72.5% of dentists owning practices in 2023.
8. Female dentists are less likely than male dentists to own a practice.
9. More dentists are delaying practice ownership until later in their careers.
10. The percentage of dentists affiliated with DSOs has jumped from 7.2% in 2015 to 16.1% in 2024.
11. About 17% of female dentists were affiliated with a DSO in 2024, compared to 14.8% of male dentists.
12. More early career dentists are affiliated with DSOs, with 26.5% of dentists up to 10 years out of dental school being affiliated with a DSO in 2024.
13. The percentage of dentists affiliated with a DSO varies across states, with Nevada and Colorado tied for the highest share at 27%.
14. Hawaii had the lowest percentage of DSO-affiliated dentists at 2%.
15. Owner dentists tend to work more hours per week compared to employee dentists, averaging 37 hours per week compared to 31.8 hours per week for employee dentists.
