DID YOU KNOW?

The consequences of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) include the loss of employer-sponsored dental benefit plans for millions of employees.  While many now have no dental benefits whatsoever, those who still have access to some dental benefits are finding that most dental plans are now embedded within medical plans, resulting in significantly lower third party reimbursement rates.

Most new dentists now graduate with an average debt of $221,000.

The average number of non-dentist staff per dentist in private practice was 4.9 in 2012, the last year such statistics are available from the ADA Health Policy Institute.

In the 2012-13 academic year, 91.6% of first year dental students were U.S. citizens.  2.2% were from Canada with 6.2% from other countries---this according to the ADA Health Policy Institute.

A 2014 survey of adults in the U.S. reported by the ADA Health Policy Institute showed that 77.1% of respondents planned a dental visit within the next 12 months while 13% were unsure and 9.9% said they would not schedule a dental appointment in 2015.  This means that one in five adults will not see or are unsure about seeing a dentist this year.  What can you and your staff do to attract this pool of potential patients?