The impact of tariffs on dentists’ ability to run their practices is one of the main issues making one DSO executive nervous.
Barry Lyon, DDS, the dental director for Main Street Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics and the chief clinical auditor for Dental Care Alliance, recently joined Becker’s Dental + DSO Review podcast to discuss the industry challenges he is keeping track of this year.
Editor’s note: These responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What are some of the biggest issues you’re following right now in dentistry?
Dr. Barry Lyon: There are quite a few issues affecting dentistry. Quite honestly, other than the pandemic in 2020, I don’t think dentistry has faced the number of significant issues it’s currently facing. We’re talking about the lingering effects of the pandemic. We’re talking about tariffs and inflation affecting the practice of dentistry, and the support from dental support organizations. We’re talking about the cost of operating dental practices now. We’re looking at the prospect of cuts in Medicaid funding [and] the elimination of fluoride from public water supplies, leading to a public health crisis. We’re looking at the reduction in the ability of prospective dental students for obtaining federal loans for dental school, and as I said, we’re still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, and the dental workforce, unfortunately, is declining and providing a huge challenge for any practicing dentist or DSO to be able to properly support the practices.
Q: What about the dental industry is making you nervous?
BL: There really are a number of different things, but I think the first thing that comes to my mind are the proposed tariffs and the tariffs we’re currently facing. Dental offices and DSOs are very dependent on supplies [and] materials coming from outside of this country. The majority of supplies that dental offices and DSOs obtain, about 75% of them come from outside the United States. We’re talking about countries like China, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Italy, France and even Japan. We depend upon those countries for the majority of our supplies. As tariffs are affecting these countries, obviously the cost of these supplies are going to increase, and it’s going to make it very difficult for practicing dentists and DSOs to be able to adequately support the practices because the cost of running their practices is going to be increasing. This creates an awful lot of added stress that dentists normally face in the course of the day because they’re looking at the impact these tariffs are going to have on running their practices.
The other part is that tariffs are inflationary, and when prices go up, as they have, then we’re looking at how much [consumers are] spending their available dollars. This is something that could certainly affect dentists and DSOs. The cost of living went up 2.7% in July, and as it increases, along with employment rates decreasing, it doesn’t look good for the economy, which ultimately is going to affect every healthcare provider, including dentists in the country.
