$297,800 in debt, 77% starting as associates, 32% headed to a DSO: ADEA's Dentists of Tomorrow 2025

What it says#

Dentists of Tomorrow 2025, Issue 10 of ADEA's Education Research Series, published in January 2026, is the summary report of the ADEA Survey of Dental School Seniors, Class of 2025, which ADEA calls the 2025 Predoc Survey. It was administered at all 67 U.S. dental schools with a graduating class between March 4 and June 18, 2025. Of 6,973 seniors invited, 3,325 responded, a 48% response rate against 44% in 2021, and responses were weighted to the senior population by Census region and school type. Where it can, the report compares the class with the 2021 cohort, and for the first time it breaks out first-generation college students: 639 respondents, 19%. The typical respondent was female, 28, Generation Z, and from the South or West.

Debt is finding 5. Average education debt, meaning dental school loans plus outstanding predental debt, was $297,800 for respondents graduating with debt, up 2% from 2021 and not adjusted for inflation. Dental school loans were 94% of the total and predental debt 6%. The five-class series in Figure 5 runs $293,000 for 2021, $293,800 for 2022, $296,500 for 2023, $312,700 for 2024 and $297,800 for 2025, with average dental school debt at $280,300 in 2025; ADEA attributes the year-to-year swings to differences in cohorts and in response rates to the debt question, which ranged from 40% to 46% of the senior population. The share graduating with dental school debt fell from 81% to 79%; the share with any education debt was 82% against 83% in 2021, not a statistically significant change. Respondents covered 65% of their education costs with debt, 17% from family and friends, 12% from grants and scholarships, 4% from savings, 1.2% from part-time work and 0.6% from other sources. Among those with dental school debt, 82% used federal direct unsubsidized loans, 76% took Grad PLUS loans (73% in 2021) and 13% used Health Professions Student Loans (17% in 2021). Of those receiving grants or scholarships, 69% had a dental school grant, 16% a state government grant, 14% a National Health Service Corps scholarship, 12% an armed forces scholarship, 11% a scholarship for disadvantaged students and 4% an Indian Health Service scholarship.

Plans are finding 3. Private practice remained the top immediate choice at 50% (51% in 2021; 47% of first-gen students), followed by advanced education at 37% (39%; 35% first-gen), practice in a government agency or nonprofit at 8% (6%; 10% first-gen), other at 4% and dental school faculty at 0.6%. Among those choosing government or nonprofit work, 61% picked a federally qualified health center (47% in 2021) while the armed forces share fell from 20% to 14%. Among seniors headed straight into private practice, 77% expected to start as associates (73% in 2021), 32% intended to join a DSO-affiliated practice (28% in 2021; 35% of first-gen students) and 50% a non-DSO practice (44% in 2021), with less uncertainty about the choice than four years earlier. Most cited a desire to start practicing and financial concerns as their reasons.

Advanced education is finding 4. Of the 1,035 respondents who applied to postgraduate programs, 65% selected general dentistry programs (58% in 2021): 40% applied to a general practice residency, with 33% ranking it first, and 25% to an AEGD. At the same time 63% applied to at least one of the 12 NCRDSCB-recognized specialties (45% in 2021), led by pediatric dentistry, orthodontics and oral and maxillofacial surgery; 65% of those continuing cited the need for additional training as their main motivator.

Readiness is finding 2. 92% agreed or strongly agreed that they were ready to practice. Between 96% and 98% felt prepared on ethical and professional values, communication, clinical decision-making, continuing education, working with diverse staff and patients, and managing common conditions; 94% on the clinical skills to begin general practice; 90% on leading a team; and 62% on managing a successful business, the only item under 80%. 78% reported adequate or above-adequate clinical experience in at least one of 14 areas, with the lowest marks for restoration of implants, endodontic therapy and surgical implant placement; 69% would have preferred more experience placing implants. Confidence exceeded 90% in six of 15 clinical areas and was lowest for malocclusion and space management (65%) and hard and soft tissue surgery (62%).

Finding 1 is about choosing dentistry: 30% decided in the last two years of college or later (26% in 2021); lower cost of attendance and being admitted only to that school were the top reasons for picking a school; shadowing a dentist and personal dental experience were the top influences; and service to others remained the leading motivation, with control over schedule and self-employment cited less often than in 2021.

Who it applies to#

The data describe one graduating class at the moment it left school, as the students themselves reported it. For an owner, that is the associate you will interview next year: carrying close to $300,000 of debt if they borrowed at all, more likely than not to expect an associateship first, one in three already inclined toward a DSO and half preferring an independent practice, confident in the operatory and unprepared, by their own account, for the business side. For an associate or a student, the report is the national comparison for your own debt, your loan mix and your plans. The figures are weighted by region and school type but ADEA notes the sample is not fully representative, and the debt averages are for the 82% of respondents with debt, not the whole class.

What changed#

Every comparison in the report is to the Class of 2021. Average education debt rose 2% in nominal dollars, from $293,000 to $297,800, and fell from the $312,700 reported for the Class of 2024. The share with dental school debt went from 81% to 79%; the share with any education debt from 83% to 82%, not significant. Grad PLUS use rose from 73% to 76% and Health Professions Student Loans fell from 17% to 13%. Intentions to join a DSO rose from 28% to 32% and to join a non-DSO practice from 44% to 50%; expecting to start as an associate rose from 73% to 77%. Government or nonprofit plans rose from 6% to 8%, FQHC preference within that group from 47% to 61%, and armed forces plans fell from 20% to 14%. Advanced education plans slipped from 39% to 37%, not significant, while general dentistry programs rose from 58% to 65% of applicants and applications to recognized specialties from 45% to 63%. Deciding on dentistry late rose from 26% to 30%. New in 2025: the first-generation breakout, a list of 20 program types to rank, and shadowing as a survey option.

Where the source is#

The ADEA page Dentists of Tomorrow 2025 carries the findings in full and links the 20-page summary report PDF (Istrate, Samanta, Booker and West, ADEA Education Research Series Issue 10, January 2026); the address ADEA.org/Seniors2025 resolves to the same page, which the report names as the online storyboard for the charts data. Dashboards on preparedness to practice sit in the ADEA Data Portal for ADEA members. The report is free and copyright ADEA; the prior editions for the Classes of 2021 through 2024 are linked from the same research hub. Questions go to ADEAdata@adea.org.