Although dentists’ confidence in the economy jumped 20% during the fourth quarter of 2024, rising costs are still a major pain point for the dental industry.
More than 45% of dentists reported increased expenses and overhead costs as one of the biggest hurdles facing dentists, according to a recent survey from the American Dental Association.
Despite some dental leaders also being confident about the direction of the economy at the beginning of the year, others are still hesitant due to the introduction of new tariffs and other economic stressors.
Here is what three dental executives have recently told Becker’s about the economy:
Sam Patel. CEO at Imagine Orthodontic Studio: We are very focused on providing care at an affordable price. We have not raised prices on our treatments. We don’t plan on doing so. The increases that we do feel from the supply side we’re confident we can manage internally and not need to place any additional burden on our patients … We hope things turn around a little bit better and things get a little more comfortable, but we are committed to making sure we honor any sort of contract we have with patients, and we’re committed to not passing on any burden to our patients as well. It’s all about communication. As long as patients communicate with us and come forward when they’re having some difficulty in managing their finances, we will work with them in every way we can to make sure they have that peace of mind.
Richard Hall. President and CEO of U.S. Oral Surgery Management: What we’re seeing so far this year is a continuation of the market being a little softer. Coming out of last year, we saw the market being soft, and I think that’s continuing in 2025. Last year, it was pretty well known that general dentistry was only slightly up and orthodontia was flat or down. We’re a 90% referral-based specialty, so we rely on patients going to general dentists and other specialists and ultimately being referred to us for the oral surgery care they need. So, we’re continuing to see some softness in the market in that regard. Implants are actually up a little bit from the prior year. So, that’s kind of a contradictory trend when you think about the overall macro market conditions in the economy in general. You would think that implants, which tend to be a little bit more discretionary by nature, would be the first affected, but that doesn’t appear to be the case thus far this year.
Barry Lyon, DDS. Dental Director for Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics and Chief Clinical Auditor for Dental Care Alliance: The tariffs will have a snowball effect. Dentists will be forced to pass along these increased costs to patients, who may elect to postpone all but the most essential dental services. This loss of revenue may force dentists to reduce staff, which in turn affects unemployment rates. As unemployment rates increase, consumer confidence decreases, which will simply aggravate an already tenuous economy.
