Newsletter
CHICAGO, USA: According to the latest figures published by the American Dental Association (ADA) last week, dentists in the U.S. are more optimistic about the economic conditions in their practices compared with last year. However, they are still not fully confident about the future of the economy.
The fourth quarter results from the Dentists' Economic Confidence Survey showed that the average score for dentists' confidence regarding the economic conditions in their practices was -26 on a scale of -100 (fully pessimistic) to 100 (fully optimistic), indicating that dentists are rather pessimistic about the status quo.
However, when dentists were asked about their confidence regarding the overall economic conditions in their practices six months in the future, the score was -12. In the fourth quarter of 2012, dentists' confidence in current conditions was -46 and -18 with regard to future conditions.
"While these scores represent a small improvement compared with the fourth quarter of 2012, they suggest that, despite the economic recovery, the economic conditions in dental practices remain challenging," said Dr. Marko Vujicic, managing vice president of ADA's Health Policy Resources Center, which conducted the survey.
