Understanding Current Issues in Dentistry

The dental industry continues evolving rapidly. If you want to grow while ensuring high-quality care, you need to stay informed of the current issues in dentistry. Below, we touch on the current challenges dental professionals are facing, plus tips on navigating these concerns.

Overview of the Current Issues in Dentistry

The most concerning topic facing the dental industry today is workforce shortages. On the other hand, the biggest threat to the dental industry is rising costs. How can you afford to pay your staff adequately while meeting rising client expectations when more patients continue choosing other dental services?

Dentists today face many challenges, including workforce shortages, rising costs, increased client expectations heightened by ever-evolving technological advancements, and strict requirements frequently changed by regulatory boards.

Dental health professionals are no longer focused on simply solving the three major dental problems that affect teeth: tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth loss. Instead, dentists must also focus on staying ahead in the competitive industry, adopting modern dental technology, improving patient outcomes, speeding up insurance reimbursements, treatment planning for clients, etc.

Workforce Shortages and Staffing Challenges Facing Dental Practices

The top concern in health care today and in general dentistry is finding and retaining qualified staff.

In 2022, the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute (HPI) estimated that approximately one-third of dental care assistants and dental hygiene professionals would retire in the next five years. HPI data also showed that this workforce shortage has already reduced dental practice capacity by 11%, making it one of the top current issues in dentistry.

Dental clinics cannot afford to meet rising compensation expectations, so dental care professionals leave. Burnout rates in health care also continue rising, which remains one of the biggest challenges for dentists, medical professionals, and all practices in the health care system.

Impact of Workforce Shortages on Dental Practices

Workforce shortages reduce appointment availability, directly impacting patient satisfaction. For example, if a client needs specific dental procedures but your dental practice can’t schedule them until next month because it’s short on dentists, you risk the patient’s oral health.

Practices cannot operate efficiently without proper staffing. Inadequate staffing impacts patient care, scheduling, office maintenance, and many other dental office procedures. Your dentists might not have time to care for new patients because they can hardly cater to the current patient volume.

If you want to maintain existing patients, improve satisfaction rates, or increase patient volume, you must focus on managing staffing shortage challenges.

Strategies for Overcoming Staffing Challenges at Your Dental Practice

A staffing shortage is one of the biggest challenges you can face in the dental profession. We recommend the following dental staffing solutions to attract and retain talent:

• Enhance your workplace culture: Encourage your hygienists and dentists to take part in staff events and surveys. Be sure to encourage growth and celebrate wins to foster a collaborative environment.
• Offer competitive benefits: Competitive pay, benefits, and a flexible work schedule can help you become the largest provider in your area so you retain each dentist.
• Leverage technology: Your practice can leverage technology to lessen the burden on your staff, helping reduce the main challenges general dentists face when dealing with dental insurance claims, patient communication, etc.

Financial Pressures and Rising Operational Costs in Dental Offices

Rising costs are one of the top current issues in dentistry as inflation continues to rise, supply costs increase, and many practices struggle to get paid because of dental coverage complications and reimbursement challenges. Financial pressures impact a practice’s ability to pay its staff and provide quality oral health services to patients. If your practice struggles to deliver top-notch care due to lacking resources, then patients may choose another facility, ultimately inhibiting your growth and increasing your financial pressures.

Managing Operational Costs Effectively

To combat the financial pressures facing medical and cosmetic dentistry, you need to manage your operational costs carefully. We recommend the following tips:

• Re-negotiate supplier contracts to lower inventory costs.
• Optimize inventory management by re-analyzing supply and demand needs.
• Leverage group purchasing organizations to increase your negotiation power.

Financial Planning and Budgeting Tips

Proper financial planning can also help your practice navigate some of the biggest challenges affecting health care right now. With staffing continuing to downtrend in the near future and inflation still rising, your practice needs to budget wisely.

We recommend focusing on patient satisfaction to retain the patients you have so you can preserve your practice for the next generation. You can consult a financial advisor or a dental CFO for advice on navigating cost concerns, budget best practices, and more.

Technological Advancements and Digital Transformation

Technology is the hot topic in dentistry in 2024. With new technologies transforming everything from cosmetic procedures like teeth whitening to oral disease diagnostic standards, your practice must evolve to keep up. Digital transformation comes with challenges, though, as your practice likely cannot afford to purchase new technology each year, but if you don’t, you may lose patients.

Keeping Up With Emerging Technologies

New technologies in oral health and cosmetic dentistry feature everything from AI and machine learning to enhanced solutions for dental caries. To keep up with the new tech, you must attend conferences with global leaders and stay current with Continuing Education courses. Some of the latest tech that can potentially enhance the overall health of your patients include the following:

• Teledentistry solutions for home-based care and increased operational efficiency
• Enhanced digital imaging for improved diagnostics
• AI-powered diagnostic tools for improved patient care

Challenges of Integrating New Technology

Adopting new tech when you work as a dentist isn’t exactly easy. Such systems come at a high cost and require added time for staff training. Your dentists and other team members may resist the change, creating more concerns.

You must think of technology as an investment that can resolve some of the other current issues in dentistry, such as staffing restrictions and financial barriers. For example, practice management software may require an upfront investment, but it can free up your staff while increasing satisfaction rates, allowing you to see more patients.

Regulatory and Compliance Issues in Dentistry

Dentists also must deal with evolving regulatory changes and compliance concerns. With updates constantly changing, dentists need to frequently take courses to refresh their knowledge and ensure they’re performing complaint procedures on patients.

Key Regulatory Changes in 2024

Dental regulations change each year from major insurance providers and governing bodies. For example, in 2024, Medicare began covering additional dental services, meaning practices must update their billing standards. Medicare’s changes also increased patient safety, created new patient data protection protocols, and addressed infection control concerns with increased sanitation regulations.

Staying Compliant in a Changing Environment

To ensure your dentists and team stay compliant, we recommend conducting regular staff training and encouraging attendance at routine educational programs. Be sure to use compliant software to keep all patient information secure.

Evolving Patient Expectations and Care Delivery Models

As technology evolves, patient expectations continue changing as well. You must meet growing demands from patients if you want to keep appointments on your schedule.

The Rise of Consumerism in Dentistry

Patients expect convenience, transparency, and exceptional service. This introduces one of the top issues in dentistry, as delivering a top-notch patient experience with limited resources and staffing can feel impossible.

Adapting to New Care Delivery Models

You can meet consumer demands by leveraging new care delivery methods. Patients expect flexible scheduling options, remote dental billing, online booking portals, virtual consultations, personalized communication, etc. Your dentists can deliver all of this by adopting a comprehensive practice management system that offers scalable experiences without high costs.

Weave’s Solutions for Addressing Current Challenges in Dentistry

At Weave, our practice communication suite and management tools help dentists navigate the current challenges facing dentistry. Our automated solutions prepare your practice for emerging issues in dentistry by reducing wasted resources and increasing patient satisfaction.

Streamlining Communication and Patient Engagement

Weave’s tools can enhance patient communication by empowering clients to engage in their care through automated appointment reminders, online scheduling, and digital forms. Help clients take care of their teeth while empowering your staff with the tools they need to perform their job successfully.

Improving Operational Efficiency With Weave

Weave’s features, such as integrated billing and payments, phone systems, and email marketing, can help reduce administrative burdens while improving efficiency.

Explore how Weave can help dental offices address the current issues in dentistry today by booking a demo of our dental practice management software.