Outlook on dentistry in the 80's

[NOLAdentist2016]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I just came across this article after an old-time dentist told me he went to Georgetown Dental school. It gave me a few laughs.

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/29/u...ollment-dental-schools-close-or-cut-back.html

An average of $51,000 of educational debt was deterring applicants? I'll take that any day!

 

[Yachi]

very interesting.

I think this says it all.

''The problem has always been to get the supply and demand in balance, and it seems we're always going up and down,'' Dr. Weathers of Emory said. ''The issue now is whether we are going to overreduce the supply so much that we'll have a shortage of dentists a few years down the road.''

Maybe another 20 years from now, dental schools will face the same issue.

 

[Doc Smile]

very interesting.

I think this says it all.

''The problem has always been to get the supply and demand in balance, and it seems we're always going up and down,'' Dr. Weathers of Emory said. ''The issue now is whether we are going to overreduce the supply so much that we'll have a shortage of dentists a few years down the road.''

Maybe another 20 years from now, dental schools will face the same issue.

I htink you are spot on. It will always be a cycle, in my opinion. Right now we are like the early 80's when there was some government funding and dental schools were increasing their class sizes. I am sure in 15 years or so, we will be back to the late 80's - early 90's where all these 'new' dental schools will lose busyness and will shut their doors just so they can pop up in another 20 years...

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

I am sure in 15 years or so, we will be back to the late 80's - early 90's where all these 'new' dental schools will lose busyness and will shut their doors just so they can pop up in another 20 years...

You make it sound like only the "new" schools closed in the 80s and 90s. Well established schools were going down the tank actually. Georgetown, Emory, Northwestern were hardly considered new schools, some had actually been around for 100 years. So who knows which school will close in the future. It could be USC, BU, etc instead of LECOM or Roseman.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

As briefly touched in the article, they expanded medical and dental school enrolment greatly to cater to the baby boomer generation of the 70's.

There was a huge drop in student enrolment in post secondary education during the post-baby boomer generation. As the size of medical schools and dental schools remain constant, medical schools were easier to get into, and many students chose meds over dents. Dental was relatively easy to get into in the early 80's.

I shadowed an ortho who went to dental school in the early 80's, and was telling me how the attrition rate was around 40% after the first semester at his school. The quality of the students simply weren't there to warrant the huge number of seats.

 

[mBjKmr]

there was also a huge boom in investment banking in the early 80's, and that attracted alot of smart kids out of undergrad

 

[yellowjeeep79]

As briefly touched in the article, they expanded medical and dental school enrolment greatly to cater to the baby boomer generation of the 70's.

There was a huge drop in student enrolment in post secondary education during the post-baby boomer generation. As the size of medical schools and dental schools remain constant, medical schools were easier to get into, and many students chose meds over dents. Dental was relatively easy to get into in the early 80's.

I shadowed an ortho who went to dental school in the early 80's, and was telling me how the attrition rate was around 40% after the first semester at his school. The quality of the students simply weren't there to warrant the huge number of seats.

Good analysis, but it was actually the early 90's that getting into ds was statistically easiest. In '91 there were 1.2 applicants for every position. The early 80's was still pretty tough to get in - worst time was, I believe '75