At Get Dental Plans, we work very closely with dentists for our company dental insurance. The past two years plus have been a very difficult time for them and they are still not out of the woods yet as we are finding ourselves currently in a position of high Covid cases.
So, we were interested to see this review by Anton Nebbe on the Braemar Finance research featured on Dentistry.co.uk to show how dentists are coping post-pandemic.
As dentists begin to better understand what the post-pandemic world looks like, Braemar Finance – part of Close Brothers Asset Finance – commissioned wide-ranging independent research to determine how dentists are dealing with the new challenges facing businesses, ranging from coping with rising costs to filling the skills gap.
Sentiment
How optimistic, if at all, do you feel about the survival and/or success of your business:
Very optimistic – 17.50%
Somewhat optimistic – 69.00%
Neither optimistic nor pessimistic – 9.50%
Somewhat pessimistic – 4%
Very pessimistic – 0%.
Despite the many setbacks of the past 18 months (and more), positivity about their future prospects is running very high among dentists, with only 4% pessimistic; 17.5% are ‘very optimistic’ and a further 69% ‘somewhat optimistic’ about what the coming months will hold.
From a turnover perspective, 86% of dentists expect their income to either ‘significantly’ (31.5%) or ‘somewhat’ (54.5%) improve; 14% think it will stay the same with none anticipating a decline.
Investment plans
Despite the skills shortage being felt in many sectors, dentists are bullish about their investment plans, with a strong response to our question ‘are you considering investing in your business in the next 12 months’ – 85% answered ‘yes’.
But what will dentists be investing in? A lot, as it turns out, ranging from hiring additional staff and capital equipment to refurbishments (we asked respondents to select all options that applied):
Additional staff – 36%
Training – 36%
Capital equipment – 31%
General business expansion/acquisition/new sites – 31%
Refurbishment – 22%
IT – 22%.
Rising fuel and inflation
In spite of the positivity about their prospects and accessing funds, nearly all (92%) dentists surveyed expressed significant concern about the impact rising fuel prices and the increase in inflation will have on their clients’ incomes.
However, how to deal with these extra costs is split between absorbing them or passing them onto clients:
Absorb these additional costs – 66%
Pass on some or all of the cost onto your client – 32%
Don’t know – 1%
I don’t have any plans in relation to the impact due to increased fuel/inflation cost – 1%.
It is good to see positivity returning to the industry and we continue to work closely alongside our dentist colleagues to offer dental insurance packages for companies.
Article correct at time of publication 13.4.22.