The COVID-19 pandemic changed the professional plans of close to a quarter of graduating dental students, according to a 2021 survey conducted by the American Dental Education Association.
ADEA surveyed the 66 U.S. dental schools with a graduating class in 2021 between March 18 and June 18, 2021. A total of 6,720 dental school seniors received the survey and 2,975 responded.
Twenty-three percent of the respondents said they changed their immediate professional plans upon graduation because of the pandemic, with preferences skewed toward going into advanced education.
Sixty percent of respondents who reported changes planned to practice dentistry before the pandemic, and 39 percent were thinking of attending an advanced education program. Upon graduation in 2021, 43 percent of this group who changed their plans because of the pandemic chose to do an advanced education program, and 56 percent chose to practice dentistry.