HPI: Dental economy in holding pattern

Report reveals decline in dentists’ economic confidence

The dental economy is in a “holding pattern with the potential for slight headwinds in the coming months,” according to a new quarterly report from the ADA Health Policy Institute.

The new HPI report, “The State of the U.S. Dental Economy — Q2 2025,” reveals a noticeable decline in dentists’ economic confidence.

“More dentists are skeptical than are confident in the overall U.S. economy,” said Marko Vujicic, Ph.D., ADA chief economist and vice president of HPI.

Unlike the U.S. economy overall, the dental sector is not seeing any growth in the total number of jobs in recent months. The number of dental jobs is up 0.2% from last year.

“This might be explained by significant difficulties dental offices report in recruiting staff, particularly dental hygienists,” Dr. Vujicic said. “Or it could reflect increased hesitation in hiring due to more pessimistic economic sentiment. We are not sure which of these is dominant.”

On the consumer side, dental spending continues to steadily grow, up 3% so far in 2025 and up 8% from before the pandemic. Dentist busyness levels and patient wait times have remained relatively stable.

The report combines findings from a panel of U.S. dentists with the latest economic data from government sources to provide a comprehensive overview of the U.S. dental economy as of the second quarter of 2025. The report explores the latest trends in dentists’ economic confidence, the demand for dental care, dental practice economics and the dental job market.

HPI will continue to monitor these key indicators, compiling results based on multiple sources to offer a comprehensive assessment of the dental economic landscape and publishing updates on a quarterly basis.

View the full report along with a recording by Dr. Vujicic going over the latest results at ADA.org/HPI.