Dentists’ economic confidence drops in first quarter of 2025
The ADA Health Policy Institute’s latest poll showed a sharp decline in dentists’ economic confidence when looking ahead to the next six months.
Since HPI began collecting this data, dentists’ confidence in the six-month outlook of their dental practices and the dental care sector has been fairly steady. From the third quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2024, 60%-66% of dentists stated they were somewhat or very confident in the six-month outlook for their dental practices, and 54% to 58% said the same for the dental care sector. Dentists’ confidence in the U.S. economy has been more volatile but has been rising steadily from a low point of 16% in the second quarter of 2022 to about 40% in early 2024.
In late 2024, dentists’ confidence in all three sectors surged. From the third quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2024, dentists’ confidence in their dental practices and the dental care sector rose by 8 and 7 percentage points, respectively. A more noticeable change occurred in dentists’ confidence in the U.S. economy, which rose from 37% of dentists being somewhat or very confident to 56% being somewhat or very confident. The confidence surge in the U.S. economy represents a 19-percentage point increase and the highest point since HPI’s panel began.
However, in the first quarter of 2025, 35% of dentists reported they were somewhat or very confident in the U.S. economy — a 21-percentage point decrease. Dentists’ confidence in their practices and the dental care sector declined by 13 and 17 percentage points, respectively.
“The underlying drivers of the recent decline in economic confidence among dentists are unclear,” said Marko Vujicic, Ph.D., ADA chief economist and vice president of HPI. “However, the sharp rise and decline of dentists’ economic confidence mirrors trends among U.S. consumers.”
According to the latest data from The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, consumer economic confidence has been declining for four months in a row. Consumers’ short-term expectations for the labor market in particular are at the lowest level in 12 years. About one-third of consumers said they found the future of the economy difficult to predict in terms of employment and the possibility of inflation. The decline in consumer confidence followed an initial rise in late 2024, similar to what HPI observed among dentists.
“Volatility in economic conditions and policy may have a lasting impact on dentists’ confidence in their professional futures. HPI will continue to monitor these trends,” Dr. Vujicic said.
Explore more of HPI’s Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry panel.
