2022 Survey of Dental Practice seeking dentist participation

Results inform ADA's strategic discussion, advocacy to promote success of dentists in a changing environment

The ADA is asking a select group of dentists in private practice to participate in the 2022 Survey of Dental Practice.

Every year, the ADA Health Policy Institute conducts the survey. Commencing the week of June 6, a sample of dentists will receive an email invitation to participate in the survey.

Results, combined with historical results and other research, inform the ADA's strategic discussion and advocacy to promote the success of dentists in a changing environment.

Here are a few insights made possible by the dentists who answered this survey in prior years:

• Due to a temporary shutdown of non-emergency dental services due to the pandemic in early 2020, dentists' net incomes declined  by 17.9% for general practitioners and 6.9% for specialists compared to 2019. Hours worked also declined by 16.6% for general practitioners and 11.7% for specialists. These declines were especially pronounced among female dentists and older dentists.
• The median annual income is $137,000 for general practitioners who graduated from dental school in 2017-2019.
• The hourly earnings of owner dentists with similar years of experience show a gender gap.
• To challenge assertions of a national dentist shortage, the ADA reported the share of dentists who were not busy enough.
• This survey, combined with other ADA research, led to a discussion of future trends in dentist income.
• Dentist income answers from this survey served as part of a larger analysis comparing educational debt to annual incomes for several professions requiring doctoral degrees.
• This survey's answers on dentist hours worked allowed the ADA to estimate changes in the future productivity of the dentist workforce in the ADA's dentist workforce projection model. 

"The ADA can best serve dentists if it hears from them," said Bradley Munson, HPI research analyst. "This survey is one of the ways we learn from a large number of dentists what's really going on in private practices."

The email invitation will be followed by a paper copy of the survey mailed to those who do not complete it online.