Oak Brook, IL-If current trends continue, getting an appointment with a dentist might become more challenging in coming years. A recent survey by the US-based independent research firm The Long Group, and sponsored by the not-for-profit Delta Dental Plans Association, found that the dentist population could begin to contract as early as 2012.
Researchers looked at current dentist retirement rates and at survey responses from dentists who expressed a desire to make a career change within the next five-to-10 years and compared those numbers with the current dentist school graduation rate. Projecting these trends into the future, the study found that the 2009 dentist population of approximately 179,600 will increase through 2011 but retirement and career changes could outpace dentist school graduation beginning in 2012. By 2019, the dentist population could be smaller by nearly 7,000, assuming consistent dental school graduates of 4,500 annually.
