According to the best dentists DC, people should get in to see a dentist as soon as possible because the predictions by the American Association of Dental Schools is that dental students will start declining by 2014 and will likely worsen in an existing problem: students who are unwilling to open practices in rural communities.

Adding to the problems facing the dental industry is a movement toward more special dental work such as orthodontics and away from general dentistry, the closure of many dental schools, the decrease in the size of graduating classes, the forthcoming mass retirement of older dentists and unfortunately but true, more women dentists who work less hours than their male counterparts.

According to dentist DC, during the 1982-83 dental school years, America produced 5,756 new dentists as said by the American Dental Association. Over the next 25 years, the US population increased by almost a third, but the number of dental school graduates decreased, falling to 4,700 by 2007.

Dental students receive their training at expensive university-run clinics, and these clinics are becoming more and more expensive to operate. As a result, several prestigious universities have abandoned dental instruction altogether.  Georgetown University in Washington, DC closed its 86-year-old dental school in 1987.

Consistent with many other professions, there are still approximately 700 more dentists entering the field then leaving it each year; however in the near future, baby boomer dentists will be retiring which will likely dramatically change the landscape of the dental profession.  A DC dental implants specialist, along with the American Association of Dental Schools, estimates that the number of practicing dentists will decline around the year 2014.

Some states can expect to be hit worse than others in the shortage of dentists and some states are already feeling the pinch from lack of dental care.  For instant Kansas has a dental shortage in 91 out of 105 of its counties. The median age of a dentist in a rural area is approximately 50 years of age and as they reach retirement their younger colleagues are more reluctant to take over.  Some states, such as Kansas, are tempting dental students into working in rural areas by promising to pay off their student loans.