An Uncertain Future: More Dental Schools Are Opening Every Year

Back when I was applying to dental school, there were only fifty-something dental schools across the nation. Today, there are currently 66 dental schools in the US with a few more set to open their doors the next couple of years. And yes, I’m still in my 20s. While a number of these schools were strategically founded to address unmet dental needs in large swaths of the country, many believe that more can be done on this front than simply increasing the number of graduating dentists every year (future post!). The fact of the matter is, more dental schools are opening every year, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Just ask the dentists in Utah.

Comparison to other professional schools

Outside of dentistry, no other profession has seen such a dramatic increase in the number of new schools open over the past 5 years as a proportion of the number of schools already in existence. If you look at medicine, law, optometry, veterinary medicine, and even pharmacy, dentistry outpaces them all in the opening of new schools. In fact, since 2008 there have been hundreds of articles written to warn would-be attorneys of the difficulties facing law school graduates.

Moreover, law schools across the country are shrinking their class sizes and shutting their doors for good. Since 2011, 165 law schools have reduced the size of their 1L classes, 53 schools of which by 33% or more. In 2017 alone, Whittier Law and Charlotte Law were folded to the dismay of many law students. Yet in dentistry, new schools are popping up left and right. Will today’s law school problem be tomorrow’s dental school problem?

A brief history lesson on dental school

Will history repeat itself? That is, will dental schools experience another mass extinction event? Every dentist, dental student, and dental school applicant should read a 1987 article in the New York Times that succinctly reviews the dental school die-off that happened in the 80s. To summarize, in the late 1980s we saw the dental schools at Georgetown University (Washington DC), Emory University (Atlanta), and Oral Roberts University (Tulsa) close down. The dental school at Northwestern University shortly followed suit in the 90s.

Time will tell the fate of dentistry, but for now, we may hit 70 dental schools in the US sooner than we think.

What do you think about all these new dental schools? Do you practice in an oversaturated are? Comment below!

This is Part I of a two-part series. Click here for Part II.