Many dentists agree that financial constraints and staffing challenges are keeping the dental industry from growing and progressing further.
Four dental industry professionals recently shared with Becker's how these factors are holding the dental industry back.
Here is what they had to say:
Editor's note: These responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Troy Gombert, DDS. Parkside Dental Health (Chandler, Ariz.): I believe some aspects of dentistry are being hindered right now, while some aspects of dentistry continue to thrive.
Searching for qualified employees seems to be at the forefront of issues currently. One, new employees are asking to be compensated at higher levels than ever before, and two, the number of qualified applicants is extremely low. As owner/operator, we are in a pickle with having to pay more than a role should receive. If the office is a PPO type of office, the fees of the practice are fixed, and the higher price tag for every single aspect of running a dental practice is increasing with inflation. With this mix, many dental practices are struggling financially compared to years past.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I am finding that higher paying procedures, such as smile makeovers and full mouth rehabilitations, are still very popular.
Scotte Hudsmith. Chair and CEO of Specialized Dental Partners (Franklin, Tenn.): The short answer is we need more people to pursue careers in dentistry at all levels and there needs to be enough programs to allow that to occur for general dentists, specialty dentists, hygienists and dental assistants.
Dentistry is progressing technology-wise in a big way. [Artificial intelligence] is helping drive the acceleration. Technology will not create enough efficiency to offset the demand for services without the people resources growing at a faster pace than programs are graduating today.
Owen Waldman, DMD. Waldman Dental Group (Scottsdale, Ariz.): The biggest thing is insurance reimbursement. Inflation is sky high, staff salaries are through the roof and the overall cost of doing business is going up. Meanwhile, insurance companies jack their premiums up every year and [have left] reimbursement rates stagnant for a decade.
While going all fee-for-service is the goal, it's not always possible in many instances and in some way, shape or form, the vast majority of offices have to deal with them. If they gave dentists [cost of living-adjusted] reimbursements on an annual basis like the way they jack up their premiums annually, dentists would be paid fairly for their skills and there would be much more money for innovation, office improvements, etc. Unfortunately, insurance companies pump advertising dollars into all the dental associations, so instead of going at them to give proper pay to dentists, they do nothing and promote these companies at the dental conventions because of the money they pay.
Charles Wolfe, DDS. Wolfe Dental Spa (Easton, Pa.): The astronomical holdback on dentistry progressing is not the lack of new developments, new AI or new products, but the unilateral grip the insurance industry has over the dental profession.
No other profession in the free world is controlled by any non-governmental agency with as tight a hold as the insurance companies have on the prevention of providing needed dental care to the American citizens. Dental insurance is stifling the dental industry’s growth. I sold a "private pay" practice 20 years ago to buy a much larger PPO practice. At that time, I was getting $864 for a crown with the free ability to charge patients for the amount not covered by insurance. Now, 20 years later in my PPO practice, I only get on average $652 for the same procedure and we are prohibited from charging the patient the balance if our UCR fee is over $1,000. What else can you buy today for less than it was 20 years ago? Nothing, except insurance-controlled dentistry. Some procedures have insurance limits for procedures they do NOT even cover.
On top of all of this, dentists now pay at least two to three times more for dental supplies, and salaries are at least three times higher than they were 20 years ago.
Some states have started insurance reform, which is only the beginning. We need national insurance reforms and to take control of the runaway policies that are severely limiting U.S. citizens from receiving the care they need. Healthcare reform under the Obama administration completely neglected the dental field. We need national dental reform now.