Here are five statistics Becker's has reported on recently that could lead to future roadblocks in the dental industry:
1. About 23.8 million people have been disenrolled from Medicaid as of June 28, according to data from KFF.
2. Fifty percent of adults in the U.S. are not aware of the link between poor oral health and heart disease, according to Proclaim's new "Oral Health Insights Report."
3. Over 88% of dentists referred to the recruitment of dental hygienists as "extremely challenging" or "very challenging," while 77.2% referred to the recruitment of dental assistants as "extremely challenging" or "very challenging" in the American Dental Association's "Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry" report for the first quarter of 2024.
4. Nearly 30% of dentists said they were "not busy enough" with their workload in 2023, an increase of more than 8% from 2022, according to data from the ADA.
5. The United States has the most expensive dental care compared to other G7 countries, with an average cost of $518 across four dental services, according to a ranking from healthnews.com.