Expanding hours, joining more insurance networks and offering new services are a few steps that dentists can take to guard against a potential recession.
A recent survey of more than 700 private practice dentists conducted by the American Dental Association found that dentists’ economic confidence in their own practice, the dental sector and the U.S. economy all dropped in the first quarter of 2025.
These five dentists recently connected with Becker’s to share the ways that dentists can potentially lessen the impact on their practice should a recession take place.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How can dentists make sure that their dental practice is recession-proof?
Robert Baskies, DMD. Dentist of Dr. Robert Baskies (Phillipsburg, N.J.): Dentistry will be affected like every other small business. Perhaps this is the year that you do not buy that boat or just maintain that five year old car. We will see our dental supplies go up because so many of our supplies are not made in the USA. Also, what effect will tariffs have on prosthetics made off shore? Maybe, this is the time also, that one starts to think about not raising prices and maybe signing up for insurance plans that you dropped because the reimbursement rate was not optimum. Maybe, unfortunately, opening up the office for more hours and seeing those emergencies that mess up your schedule on the same day. It is impossible to predict the future as a small business when large corporations cannot give an accurate forecast on their future prospects. I have practiced for almost 50 years and I weathered the vicissitudes of multiple economic cycles. You will prevail if you run a lean machine, give the patient a great experience and keep in the knowledge that this will be just a blip in your career.
Mike Davis, DDS. Dentist of Smiles of Sante Fe (Albuquerque, N.M.): Dental providers dependent on third party payers, such as dental insurance, cannot recession-proof their practices. Such business models depend on volume. Reduced volume of patients under steeply discounted plans may render treating such patients as fiscally unviable without a critical mass of volume. Also, if numbers fall off and patients cannot meet their co-payments, the apparent house-of-cards will also collapse. Likewise, practices that operate out-of-network will also likely see a falloff in production as patient populations become economically squeezed.
It may come down to which business models are nimbler. This unfortunately includes the potential of cutting staff hours and layoffs. Hours of operation may be reduced. Plans and their patient populations such as highly discounted PPOs and Medicaid, which may have been in the business mix, may now need to be discontinued. No business can operate at a loss for any extended length of time and remain viable.
Mike Kang, DDS. Dentist of AppleTree Dental (Anaheim, Calif.): I believe strong patient relationships are one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to recession-proof a dental practice. It’s a proven fact that trust leads to loyalty, word-of-mouth is priceless and retention is cheaper than acquisition. When a patient feels valued, heard and cared for, they’re far more likely to prioritize their dental visits, even when they are cutting costs elsewhere.
Louis Malcmacher, DDS. Dentist and President of the American Academy of Facial Esthetics (Cleveland): It is simple to recession proof your practice by giving patients what they want! One proven way to recession proof your practice is to offer injectables like botox and fillers. These are the most popular esthetic treatments by far in the world. Your patients are already getting these treatments, so they may as well be getting them from you, their dentist, who they know and trust.
Through good or poor economic times, patients are still coming in for botox and fillers. There is no insurance to deal with, these patients are happy to get the treatment from a trusted provider, and happy to pay for them again and again. Botox lasts for three to four months, which means this is a recurring revenue stream for your office.
I started providing injectables in our dental offices in 2007. We have all lived through the 2008 market crash, up and down economic times, COVID and today’s uncertainty, and the only constant is that the injectable part of the practice keeps increasing every year.
Michael Perpich, DDS. Dentist at Gentle Dental (Coon Rapids, Minn.): I don’t think there is a way dentists can recession proof their practices if a recession does come along. That being said, I think dentists have ways to soften the effects of a recession. They can continue to treat patients with the best care and do excellent clinical dentistry. Watching costs like payroll, supplies and occupancy making sure the practice is running lean and profitable. These will be key variables to help survive and come out of the recession even stronger.