The Growing Use of Locums Tenens Dentists
Similar dynamics have taken place in nursing, where shortages have led to the widespread use of temporary nurses, often referred to as “travelers.” Widespread shortages of healthcare professionals have created a clinical workforce that has become increasingly mobile and less tied to a particular site of service.
This trend, long confined to other professions, has migrated into dentistry. Below is a review of trends and metrics driving dentist supply and demand and the use locum tenens dentists.
SUPPLY CONSIDERATIONS: Dental Schools and Dental Students Fragmented workforce management models U.S. teaching hospitals have been producing about the same number of physicians – around 30,000 – since a cap on spending on physician training was imposed by Congress in 1997. Similarly, the number of dental school graduates peaked at 5,750 in 1982, then declined for sixteen years and stayed flat at about 4,500 for almost a decade. Since 2011, however, ten new dental schools have been granted accreditation by the Commission on Dental Accreditation and as of 2021 there are 68 accredited dental schools in the U.S. spread across 36 states and 10 dental schools in Canada. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), the total number of students in U.S. dental schools in the 2020-21 academic school year is 25,995, up from 25,807 the previous year. Current predoctoral dental school enrollment now is at an all-time high of 25,995, up from the previous peak of the early 1980s when enrollment reached 22,842.
The dental school class of 2020 had 6,609 graduates, up from 6,350 in 2019.
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