I'm no economic savant or anything but I did take a few econ courses while studying Business Management at Indiana University, so let me offer a rebuttal.
"2,200 patients per dentists"; supposedly, but demand isn't determined by how many people want or need a dentist,instead, it is defined by how many patients are able and willing to pay for the fee's of a dentist.
This is where it gets tricky; tuition is 250,000 on the low end, 500,000 on the high end. Being debt trapped hinders the practitioner to place a fair asking price for his or her fees w/o losing the practice or defaulting on his or her loans. Although there are many openings in rural USA, many people are unemployed or have low paying wages because of the lack of a diverse economic structure (Detroit or any place in the rust belt). The procedures that a dentist chooses in those areas are not implants but extractions or something cost effective for both parties.
So yes, pumping out more dentist will cause practitioners to look for new and improved ways to remain profitable but that does not mean rural USA. It may mean corporate chains coming in who have a larger financial leverage to bargain for lower overhead and can consume certain losses that small dental clinics could not do (Wal-mart, Aspen). These chains have the ability to offer extending credit to patients who can not afford to pay a large lump sum. Also these chains will have a plethora of new minty debt trapped grads to pick from. This is not a new or novel idea but something I see when I go to Walmart or Walgreens where pharmacists now work, where in the past they owned their own businesses, or just down the street next to Starbucks is Aspen dental with a newly minted IU grad working there; pulling teeth.
Pumping out new grads does not help the problem because no one knows what the problem is. We first have to diagnose the true problem which is more abstract than "there is not enough dentist". I know ignorance is tempting ( I don't mean to be facetious) but we have to have some self control and really understand why some areas are lacking dentist and others are not. I myself do not know because I'm not a dentist nor a student, but merely, a business graduate/pre-dent who cannot afford to go to the dentist.
Last point: follow the money. These schools are opening because they can, and there is a lot of money in education. We have been indoctrinated that a degree equates to better quality of life and to some degree(no pun) it does. Deans are racking in millions a year and for good reason.
Best regards to all. I wish you well
P.S., I think the real problem is "greed" or at-least trying to satisfy it; in which we cannot. Nothing new is under the sun the psalmist wrote and this too is true.
The current population in the U.S (according to the 2010 Census) is 311 million. Our population is growing at 1% per year. That means that next year, there will be an additional 3.1 million people in the U.S.
In 2007, there were 128,000 general dentist in the U.S. If we assumed that 5,000 enter the workforce each year and not a single one retired, that would give us approximately 143,000. If every dentist worked alone, that would give nearly 2,200 patients per dentists, which is a very, very solid patient base.
Additionally, our per capita GDP is increasing, meaning that people have higher levels of disposable income. As people have more money, they spend more on health care and dental care.
The above mentioned factors continue to increase the demand for dentists. Until they change, new schools will continue to open to provide more dentists.
