The Future

[Cranjis McBasketball]

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Jump ahead 10, 20, 30 years. What do you guys think dentistry will look like as a career?

 

[cmcner]

Jump ahead 10, 20, 30 years. What do you guys think dentistry will look like as a career?

Dentistry is slow to change. 10 years from now about the same, more digital stuff like cad/cam and 3D printing at crazy prices. Specialties like Ortho and pedo and perio hope that the economy is good and generals don't try to do more specialty work in office. Generals hope they can compete with supply fees from corporate and favorable fee scheduled that corporate gets. USC at a 5% increase per year would be $211,756 for first year. Corporations get more new grads.

20 years from now lab techs either got a new product niche or are out of business. Amalgam has been outlawed as a dental material by either environmentalists or FDA. Dentistry is all digital. No more physical impressions or models for diagnostic, dentures or crowns. Bridges are mostly extinct replaced by cheaper implants. Corporate is pretty much king as they can afford the digital equipment better than a solo practioner. Denta-Cal still hasn't raised rates. USC at a 5% increase per year would be $344,928 for first year if student loan bubble hasn't popped. If student loan bubble has popped many dental schools close. Corporations get all new grads.

30 years from now the country is very different. Almost all labor jobs have been replaced by robots from drivers to fast food workers to maids to stock brokers. People can no longer work for money so either the government gives it to them and limits population or there is a huge lower class with no potential jobs to work at and we are headed down the tubers. Assuming the population has means to receive dental care at the current rate of advancement we might see the ability to regrow dentin and enamel, gain attachment for periodontal disease and possibly bioengineered bacteria to keep a healthy oral microbiome. Regrowing teeth will be possible but still won't make sense due to cost and implants will be tooth replacement of choice. Still no one will know anything about how to fix TMJ. People still won't brush their teeth. USC at a 5% increase per year would be $561,852 for first year.

 

[Cold Front]

Jump ahead 10, 20, 30 years. What do you guys think dentistry will look like as a career?

10 years from now.

• Dental offices will be more digital (from reading digital magazine in the waiting room to more 1 appointment crowns).
• Your dentist will most likely be a male in his 60s with all gray hair, or a middle aged female who works part-time. It will be rare to see a young dentist in private practice, all of which will most likely be at a corporate chain.

20 years from now.

• I would be retired and reading about some private dental schools closing their programs due to high tuition and lack of applicants.
• Middle Level Practitioners are now as common as dental hygienists in some states. Dentists in those states will not be doing any more basic restorations, but limiting themselves to a specialty type of dentistry (Endo, Oral Surgery and so on).

30 years from now.

• A caries vaccine will begin human trials and dentists will do everything they can to stop it. ADA will fight it through fictitious studies, but it will be quickly developed and available to the rest of the world before the US.
• As a result, Dentistry will slowly be diluted down to just major procedures. Bleaching will be available at mall kiosks and nail salons. Dentures will be ordered online by the patient after buying an over the counter impression material and be processed in a lab overseas (a subsidiary of Google/Alphabet or Facebook).

I will check back in 30 years and read this topic and see how many of the above points actually became a reality.

 

[jokersmiles]

10 years from now.

• Dental offices will be more digital (from reading digital magazine in the waiting room to more 1 appointment crowns).
• Your dentist will most likely be a male in his 60s with all gray hair, or a middle aged female who works part-time. It will be rare to see a young dentist in private practice, all of which will most likely be at a corporate chain.

20 years from now.

• I would be retired and reading about some private dental schools closing their programs due to high tuition and lack of applicants.
• Middle Level Practitioners are now as common as dental hygienists in some states. Dentists in those states will not be doing any more basic restorations, but limiting themselves to a specialty type of dentistry (Endo, Oral Surgery and so on).

30 years from now.

• A caries vaccine will begin human trials and dentists will do everything they can to stop it. ADA will fight it through fictitious studies, but it will be quickly developed and available to the rest of the world before the US.
• As a result, Dentistry will slowly be diluted down to just major procedures. Bleaching will be available at mall kiosks and nail salons. Dentures will be ordered online by the patient after buying an over the counter impression material and be processed in a lab overseas (a subsidiary of Google/Alphabet or Facebook).

I will check back in 30 years and read this topic and see how many of the above points actually became a reality.

this is actually really interesting, if you can provide more predictions it would be great for 10, 20, 30 years from now.

and oh god USC.

 

[Cello]

10 years from now.

• Dental offices will be more digital (from reading digital magazine in the waiting room to more 1 appointment crowns).
• Your dentist will most likely be a male in his 60s with all gray hair, or a middle aged female who works part-time. It will be rare to see a young dentist in private practice, all of which will most likely be at a corporate chain.

All the better for those of us entering the market and looking to work full-time!

20 years from now.

• I would be retired and reading about some private dental schools closing their programs due to high tuition and lack of applicants.
• Middle Level Practitioners are now as common as dental hygienists in some states. Dentists in those states will not be doing any more basic restorations, but limiting themselves to a specialty type of dentistry (Endo, Oral Surgery and so on).

Dental therapists have been around for 7 years already, but only exist in three markets. I am curious what dentists in Minnesota, Maine, and Alaska have to say about dental therapists in those states.

30 years from now.

• A caries vaccine will begin human trials and dentists will do everything they can to stop it. ADA will fight it through fictitious studies, but it will be quickly developed and available to the rest of the world before the US.
• As a result, Dentistry will slowly be diluted down to just major procedures. Bleaching will be available at mall kiosks and nail salons. Dentures will be ordered online by the patient after buying an over the counter impression material and be processed in a lab overseas (a subsidiary of Google/Alphabet or Facebook).

I will check back in 30 years and read this topic and see how many of the above points actually became a reality.

You never know what advanced procedures are in the pipeline for the next 30 years. But if dental therapists get to practice bread and butter dentistry by then, let them worry about a caries vaccine! 😉

 

[Cold Front]

this is actually really interesting, if you can provide more predictions it would be great for 10, 20, 30 years from now.

and oh god USC.

In 10, perhaps 20 years, corporate dentistry will have a foot or power in playing a role at state dental boards. They will gear the profession away from the solo or group practice.

The corporate groups have an association and lobbyists already, with no shortage of the financial muscle to reach their objectives. In fact, they've already started to challenge their place in being the authority of dentistry in many states.
http://blog.dentistthemenace.com/2015/10/agency-capture-association-of-dental.html?m=1