The main driving force behind dentists’ skepticism in the U.S. economy is concern about tariffs and inflation, according to new data from the American Dental Association.
The ADA released its “Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry” report for the fourth quarter of 2025, highlighting key trends and statistics on the workforce, practice operations and financial performance.
Overall, the report shows dentists’ confidence in the U.S. economy and the dental care sector during the fourth quarter of 2025 is much lower compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. To see how data compares to 2024, click here.
Here is how dentists responded when surveyed about their confidence levels for the economy over the next six months:
Their particular dental practice
Very confident: 18.4%
Somewhat confident: 35%
Neither confident nor skeptical: 20%
Somewhat skeptical: 20.6%
Very skeptical: 6%
The dental care sector in general
Very confident: 8.7%
Somewhat confident: 32.4%
Neither confident nor skeptical: 27.4%
Somewhat skeptical: 23.8%
Very skeptical: 7.8%
The U.S. economy overall
Very confident: 8.5%
Somewhat confident: 24.2%
Neither confident nor skeptical: 19.5%
Somewhat skeptical: 30.7%
Very skeptical: 17.2%
Here are the reasons 376 dentists gave for their skepticism in overall U.S. economic conditions:
Concern about the impact of tariffs, rising costs/inflation: 82.7%
There is too much economic uncertainty in general: 74.7%
Lack of faith in the current US leadership: 62%
Domestic social/political unrest is hurting the economy: 59.3%
Increasing national debt is hurting the economy: 47.1%
Overseas conflicts/geopolitical turmoil is hurting the economy: 38.8%
Other: 10.4%
No specific reason/generally pessimistic: 1.3%
