State of Dental | An annual data report on the dental industry
2026 EDITION IN PROGRESS

State of
Dental.

An annual data report on the dental industry — the tools, the technology, and the people behind the practice. Each edition surveys thousands of professionals to map what is changing inside the practice.

ANNUAL REPORT · DENTAL INDUSTRY 6,053 PROFESSIONALS SURVEYED EDITIONS 2023 — 2026

Key findings

FROM THE '25 SURVEY
01
53%

of practice work is general edits and admin. Teams spend more time maintaining than improving.

02
71%

say patient retention is a top KPI, but few have the tools to actively measure it.

03
70%

of operational projects get deprioritized because they are too slow or difficult to ship.

METHODOLOGY

We surveyed over 6,053 professionals

The people who run dental practices — owners, dentists, hygienists, and office managers — rarely have the time, tools, or quiet hours to map what is actually changing inside the chair-side workflow. We quantified what they see day-to-day, and what is coming next.

Office managers 46%
Dentists & owners 35%
Clinical staff 11%
Other roles 8%
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Inside the report

00
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Growth is back, but the team is the constraint.

Revenue expectations improved, but the operating question is less about demand and more about whether practices can hire, retain, and support the people who deliver the patient experience.

01
SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS

Who took the 2025 survey.

The report combines responses from owners, dentists, office leaders, and clinical staff across North America. Role and region splits are kept visible so readers can understand the respondent base before reading the findings.

02
STATE OF DENTAL TODAY

2024 performance raised expectations for 2025.

Practices are reporting stronger revenue and healthier patient demand, but hiring, no-shows, paperwork, and compensation pressure keep the operating environment tight.

03
2025 PREDICTIONS

Patient experience and automation are converging.

Scheduling, paperwork, communications, and AI are becoming part of the same operational conversation: how to reduce staff drag while improving the patient journey.

04
HIGH-RETENTION PRACTICE STRATEGIES

Top practices make retention operational.

High-retention practices are not simply better at hiring. They invest in training, recognition, reviews, compensation, and technology that removes repetitive administrative work.

05
CONCLUSION

The winning practices are easier places to work.

The pattern across the report is consistent: practices that remove repetitive work, train teams on new tools, recognize performance, and make scheduling easier are better positioned to grow.

ARCHIVE

All editions

Each report is a snapshot of where the industry stood that year. Older editions stay live as a long-form archive — open one to read the full chapters and charts.

LATEST REPORT · '25 The year teledentistry became table stakes. After a decade of slow adoption, virtual consultations crossed the chasm. The 2025 edition focuses on patient access, operational follow-through, and retention.
READ THE REPORT →
'26 NEWEST
AI is reshaping the chair-side workflow. READ THE REPORT →
'24
How top practices retain happy teams. READ THE REPORT →
'23
The post-pandemic reset. READ THE REPORT →