New Dentists VS retiring Dentists /year?

[EpicDentist]

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With all these new dental schools per year, should we be concerned about the number of new dentists VS retiring dentists? Is the number of retiring dentists declining? If so, how do we overcome this?

I'm thinking most new dentists will open/join a group practice, while opening a solo practice will be a thing of the past. Thoughts?

 

[djeffreyt]

joining a group practice does not change anything over being in solo practice, and there will still be a lot of solo practitioners, just fewer, cause there will always be people who feel they don't want to have anyone else as a boss or partner to answer to.

There isn't much within the power of the individual dentist to change the retiring vs. new dentist ratios. You can lobby the ADA to not accredit so many more dental schools or you can do what you can politically to improve the economy so more dentists can retire.

 

[Cold Front]

With all these new dental schools per year, should we be concerned about the number of new dentists VS retiring dentists? Is the number of retiring dentists declining? If so, how do we overcome this?

I'm thinking most new dentists will open/join a group practice, while opening a solo practice will be a thing of the past. Thoughts?

Retiring dentists changed their plans after the economy crashed around 2007-2009. They have gone through boom time prior to that, and now trying to stay in the game as long as they can, until they get close to their original retirement goals. Continuing to work may not necessarily mean full time or working in clinical settings, I would guess over 50 dentists are probably working 32 hours or less, this leads to an increase on the demand side, which I don't think can be filled by the number of new graduates. There are more over 50 dentists in the country than new graduates.

Not all new graduates will work full time, or work in the same city where most over 50 dentists are. Overall, the demand outside hot pockets (saturated areas) will remain strong, at the current level of new schools.