New York City–There’s at least one profession the recession isn’t taking a bite out of: dentistry. Dental offices had higher profit margins than any other industry in ’08, according to Sageworks, a US-based firm that tracks private company financial performance. With average profit margins at 17 percent, dentistry outperformed accounting, tax preparation, legal services, payroll services and mining support services among the top five performing professions in ’08.
According to the Time/CNN story, people are either taking advantage of their employee benefits and getting their dental work done before they get laid off or they’re drowning their sorrows with sweets and grinding their teeth to the nubs after being laid off.
But there may be trouble on the horizon.
“Traditionally it takes six to 12 months for economic trends to affect the dental practice,” says Dr. Roger Levin, CEO of the dental management consultant firm The Levin Group. “The full impact of the downturn may be yet to come.”
