poll - increasing number of international dds programs in the us

[coloradonative]

what do you all feel about the growing number of international dds programs in us dental schools? Do you agree with these programs and the increasing high enrollment every year?

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[Vicviper]

Well, I'm not too sure about my opinions about the programs, but I do know that there is a steady decline in the numbers of dentists, something like 5,000 retiring every year, but only 4,000 graduating - so it might be helpful to stem the loss.

 

[pumpUup]

Well, I'm not too sure about my opinions about the programs, but I do know that there is a steady decline in the numbers of dentists, something like 5,000 retiring every year, but only 4,000 graduating - so it might be helpful to stem the loss.

I heard about this many times but I still can't believe it.

 

[Vicviper]

I heard about this many times but I still can't believe it.

It's the baby boomers retiring - and yeah, I didn't used to believe this, because around my home in So-cal, there is literally a dentist on every block, but there's apparently a huge exodus of dentists out of the Midwest and rural areas. We had a speaker this week from a big dental group, and he said that Tuscon, AZ only has like 270 dentists for the entire city, if that's true, it's over 2,000 people per dentist.

Update: Just looked up the labor statistics, in the next 10 years there will be almost 52,000 new GENERAL dentists needed due to growth and replacement, and with the dental schools turning out somewhat over 4,000 a year, and only 80% of those go into general practice, we're going to need a larger influx of dentists.