A December poll conducted by the ADA Health Policy Institute (HPI) found that 25% of responding owner dentists had raised fees within the previous month as a financial sustainability measure.
The HPI surveyed dentists for the December wave of its COVID-19 Economic Impact on Dental Practices poll, according to an article from ADA News.
Other financial sustainability measures included the following:
- Changed dental materials supplier/lab: 16.7%
- Reduced dental team hours: 10.9%
- Disenrolled from dental benefits plans: 10.4%
- Borrowed money from a bank: 9.2%
- Downsized dental team: 6.8%
HPI also found that patient volume in private practices had remained stable for several months, landing at 90% of pre-COVID-19 levels during the week of December 13, according to the article. In other results, patient volume was highest among younger dentists, reaching 96% of pre-COVID-19 levels for dentists younger than 35 and 94% for dentists 35 to 44 years of age.
In a potentially troubling sign, HPI also reported that the omicron variant may be affecting dentists' confidence in the recovery of their dental practice from the pandemic. Although 75% of dentists in November felt "very" or "somewhat" confident in recovery, only 71% felt that way in December, according to ADA News.
