A new generation of dentists is reshaping ownership, gender balance, and affiliations— with long-term consequences for the business of dentistry.
By: Rachel Morrissey and Marko Vujicic
What does it mean to be a “typical” dentist? Twenty years ago, the average dentist was likely in their 40s, midcareer, and the owner of a small practice. At that time, the profession was dominated by baby boomers who had graduated in the late 1970s and early 1980s, an era marked by a surge in dental school graduates.
Today, the picture looks quite different. Over the past several years, a generational shift in dentistry has been taking place, with more dentists at both the beginning and end of their careers. The large cohort of baby boomer dentists is now reaching their late 60s, with retirement on the horizon. At the same time, a growing number of young dentists are entering the field—a pattern that shows no signs of slowing.
The number of dental school grads in the U.S. has gone up since the early 2000s, following a large drop in graduates that began in the late 1980s. The introduction of more than a dozen new dental schools in the U.S. since 2000 contributed an additional 9,000 graduates to the
already rebounding workforce pipeline over the last two decades. Between 2014 and 2024, there were just under 70,000 dental school graduates.
Another major shift in today’s dental workforce is gender representation. In the early 1980s, women made up only about 20% of dental graduates. By the early 2000s, men still outnumbered women in predoctoral dental programs.
That trend has since reversed: Beginning in 2019, women comprised the majority of dental school graduates.
In fact, in 2024, 56% of dental school graduates were women. Women also made up more than half of the graduating classes of several advanced dental education disciplines in 2024, including pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, and general practice residency programs.
What does a younger, increasingly female dentist workforce mean for the future of the profession? One key implication lies with practice
modality. HPI has been closely tracking changes in dentist affiliation with DSOs as well as shifts in dental practice size, measured by the
number of affiliated locations within a practice. Both aspects of practice modality are changing, and the gender and age shift are major drivers.
There are major differences in practice modality depending on dentist career stage. Early career dentists are far more likely to practice in larger groups and to be affiliated with a DSO.
As of 2024, one-third of all dentists are in solo dental practice (34%) while less than one-fifth work for a large group practice with 10 or
more affiliated locations (17.4%). For younger dentists—those up to 10 years out of dental school—the reverse was true: 15% worked in solo practices compared to 29% in large group practices.
The share of dentists affiliated with a DSO has more than doubled in the last 10 years. In 2024, about one out of every six dentists overall was affiliated with a DSO. While this number has grown for all dentists, it is particularly robust for young dentists, with women even more likely to work at a DSO-affiliated practice. In 2024, close to one-third (32%) of female dentists up to five years out of dental school were in a DSO-affiliated setting.
Increased affiliation with DSOs is not likely to reverse any time soon. The American Dental Education Association’s 2024 Survey of Dental School Seniors showed that 32% of surveyed dental school seniors who plan to go into private practice following graduation intend to join a DSO-affiliated practice. Just five years ago, 18% of dental school seniors reported the same plans, a little more than half of today’s number.
An examination of practice ownership trends reveals a similar pattern of divergent career choices across age and gender cohorts. HPI analyzed data looking at practice ownership at different career stages for cohorts of dentists who graduated between 1991 and 2020. For dentists who graduated in 2010 or earlier, the majority were practice owners five to nine years after graduation. In sharp contrast, only about 20% of dentists who graduated between 2016 and 2020 were practice owners at the same point in their career. For women dentists in this cohort, the figure is 14% compared to 30% for men.
The demographics of dentistry are shifting. More dentists are choosing career paths in larger group practices or DSO-affiliated settings over traditional solo ownership early in their careers. As this new generation grows, their preferences will continue to redefine what it means to be a dentist today.
Rachel Morrissey is a senior research analyst at the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute, where she leads the analysis of data for a variety of projects focused on dental education and emerging issues in dentistry. She has co-authored several articles on the dental workforce, published in Health Affairs Scholar, Dental Economics, and the Journal of Dental Hygiene.
Marko Vujicic currently serves as Chief Economist, Chief of International Relations, and Vice President of the Health Policy Institute at the American Dental Association. He is a recognized thought leader in health care policy as it relates to dental care. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals such as Health Affairs, The New England Journal of Medicine, and his team’s work is regularly cited by CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and other media outlets. Previously, he was Senior Economist with The World Bank in Washington D.C. where he focused on health systems reform in developing countries.
