Patient volume is increasing at dental offices nationwide, but at a slower rate than it was in previous weeks, according to recent survey results from the American Dental Association.
The ADA received responses from 4,371 dentists and found that their average patient volume has reached 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels, a percentage that had not changed significantly from its last survey wave.
Results also reveal that dental offices' staffing levels are stabilizing, with employment returning to 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels. The same figure was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its report for June employment.
"Taken together, the data suggests the dental care rebound is slowing and we might be soon approaching a plateau in terms of patient volume. The evidence suggests that capacity constraints in dental offices might be just as important as demand-side factors in limiting patient volume," Marko Vujicic, PhD, chief economist and vice president of the ADA's Health Policy Institute, told ADA News.