The dental economy could experience additional headwinds in the coming months, according to a new report from the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute.
The ADA’s “State of the U.S. Dental Economy” report for the second quarter of 2025 shows that dentists’ confidence in the U.S. economy, their individual practices and the dental care sector continues to decline.
The ADA also reported that the dental sector is not seeing an increase in jobs in comparison to the overall U.S. economy, with the number of dental jobs up only 0.2% from last year.
However, the report does show that dental spending continues to grow, and that dentist busyness levels and patient wait times have remained stable.
Here is the percentage of dentists who reported being “somewhat” or “very” confident in the economy during the first and second quarters of 2025:
Their particular dental practice
First quarter: 54.5%
Second quarter: 50.4%
The dental care sector
First quarter: 45.8%
Second quarter: 45.2%
U.S. economy
First quarter: 34.9%
Second quarter: 30.8%
