Is Dental Spending in Real Decline After Inflation?

Is dental spending actually declining when you adjust for inflation?

Yes, and it is worse than the headline numbers suggest. The ADA shows growth in dental expenditures slowing from about 3.9 percent over a decade down to 1.8 percent, then into negative territory after the recession. But that data was never adjusted for inflation. Go back and correct for it and the picture changes. We had a real run of around eight percent growth for about ten years, then from 2002 onward we slid into a steep negative trend, roughly 8.2 percent a year on a real basis. That is not a soft patch. That is a long, grinding decline in what patients actually spend. If you have been measuring your practice against gross dollars, you have been fooling yourself. Measure in real terms and plan for a market that is shrinking under you, not expanding.

If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.