Whole Tooth: The Staggering Cost of Dental School

Last week I attended my 20-year dental school reunion in Boston. It’s still a bit crazy for me to accept that 20 years have flown by since I graduated from dental school. I spent a few days in Boston strolling down a nostalgic memory lane.  

In addition to seeing old classmates and visiting old stomping grounds in the city, I got a chance to visit my old school and attend a class by my old Operative Dentistry professor.  He was the best professor at the school and he is still teaching even though surely he must be at least in his late 70s, and he has not skipped a beat.

The dental school was pretty unrecognizable, having undergone significant remodels and upgrades to its space and equipment over the past 20 years. We got to have a tour of the new facilities by current dental school students and talk to them about how things were going. It was so fun to talk to these students, as it reminded all of us of everything we went through decades ago.  

There was such palpable excitement and energy from them about their accomplishments and their positive outlook on the future career and professional life ahead. It was really nice to see and talk with them about this exciting time in their lives, when their whole future is wide open and waiting.

I  have to admit, though, there was also a tinge of anxiety and worry about how expensive dental school is now and the ramifications for their lives once they graduate. The cost of dental education had been steadily rising even before I got to dental school 24 years ago, and it was not uncommon for many dental students to have over $200,000 in school debt when they graduated. It was a fact, even long ago, that dental schools were one of the most expensive schools to run, even more expensive than medical schools. That was daunting and scary decades ago.

Fast forward to today: my dental school and out of state dental students at OHSU here in Oregon are paying $100,000 per year in just tuition. At OHSU, if you are in state, you are paying $70,000 per year. If you count all of the other fees needed for classes plus room and board, it is now not uncommon for dental students to graduate with over $500,000 in school debt. And this is not even taking into account undergraduate studies. I have heard of dental students graduating from NYU in New York City with sometimes $750,000 in student debt, which is mind boggling.

I have loved being a dentist and continue to believe it is a wonderful profession and a great fit for me.  I do not doubt that it is not a profession for everyone: for the right person and personality it is a lifelong career, and one that I personally am passionate about. I do worry though about what the future holds for the profession, as becoming a dentist will be so out of reach for many young people. And even for those that do go ahead and make the commitment, the ramifications of being in so much debt upon graduation is daunting.

It will probably be awhile till AI and robots take over dentistry. Can you imagine letting a robot do local anesthetic and a filling for you? I think we are going to have to figure out how the next generation of dentists are going to make all of this work in the future. Unlike my amazing dental school professor, I’d like to retire before I am 80!