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March 19, 2021

Dental practices hit by pandemic, but declines less than expected

Photo | HBJ File Dental practice revenue fell 6% year-over-year in 2020, Software Pundit found.
By Liese Klein

Dental practices nationwide saw declines in appointments and revenue during the pandemic, with steep drops in dental hygiene appointments, according to a new report. But many recovered in the later part of 2020 and beat industry expectations, the data showed.

Analyst Software Pundit examined proprietary data from Dental Intelligence, which collects statistics from more than 8,000 practices nationwide.

Dental practice revenue fell 6% year-over-year in 2020, Software Pundit found. However, that was a much stronger performance than the 38% decline forecasted in June by the American Dental Association.

Even so, nearly 10% of all dental practices nationwide said they laid off workers in early 2021, according to the report.

One metric studied was the drop in dental hygiene appointments, a revenue driver at many practices. Nationally, dentists saw a 10% decrease in completed hygiene appointments in 2020 compared to 2019, with average annual patient value dropping by 5% in 2020 from $677 to $644.

Connecticut saw one of the smaller declines among states, with appointments down 5%. South Dakota saw the steepest drop, down by 29%, while appointments actually increased slightly in Kansas and Arizona.

Dental practices saw the worst impacts of the pandemic on appointments in the spring of 2020 but many had bounced back by the summer and saw more recovery late in the year. In the Northeast, the initial drop in appointments extended into May and June, and the fall decline was not as severe, the report found.


 

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