2022 has been an interesting year with economic ups and downs that impacted many industries, including dentistry. Dental offices saw a surge of patients returning post-lockdown after a significant drop in patient visits during the shutdown. The United States dental market is expected to see over $15B (100%) in growth by 2027. Most of this increase will be due to more market demand for cosmetic dentistry and the number of aging dental patients with increased dental needs.

Political factors can play a massive role in investment decisions and potentially impact the cost of business and its long-term sustainability, while economic factors, such as inflation, can affect the market’s attractiveness. Other economic factors, such as GDP growth and disposable income, can directly impact patients’ purchasing power and directly or indirectly affect a practice. For example, dental services saw a 1.9% increase in June, the largest recorded by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. With prices going up by 9.1% year over year, medical services also saw an increase of 0.7%.  Earlier in the year, a survey by the ADA Health Policy Institute identified the biggest challenges facing practices, and 35% of the dentists identified inflation and staffing at the top of the list of challenges they are facing today.

Looking at economic confidence, almost 60% of the owners and nonowners showed confidence in practice recovery, while less than 30% showed confidence in economic recovery in the US. We can see the same trend on the DSO side, where the majority has confidence in business recovery, but less than 30% show confidence in the economy recovering in the next six months.

Improve the customer experience. There are several factors to take into consideration to improve the patient experience. It is not enough to consider the quality of care as the only factor impacting the patient’s experience. Many consider the patient experience to start when the patient steps through the practice doors. I say the patient experience should begin online. This allows you to create a seamless experience from the moment they identify the need to visit all the way through after care.

Provide a robust and convenient online presence.Create a strong online patient experience for both active and prospective patients. While the strategy is different for each group of patients, the goal remains the same: providing a seamless experience to patients.