Market trends can be powerful forces that shape the trajectory of any business. When market share goes down by even a few percentage points, profitability can take a big hit. That’s because most business expenses are a sunk cost, and so declining revenues are a direct hit to the bottom line. Likewise, when market share increases, profits can surge for the same reason: expenses have already been incurred, and increased revenues flow directly to the bottom line.

In the world of dental specialists, the elephant in the market is the general practitioner population, who are the majority of dental providers and generally considered the front door for patients who need care. GP referrals functionally act as gatekeepers most of the time for patients to receive care from a specialist.

For a variety of reasons (economic goals, new clinical technologies, corporatization, etc.), the overall trend in the GP market has been to expand their procedure mix, often taking on procedures typically referred to specialists. As a result, GPs are increasing their market share at the expense of referrals to specialists in many significant areas:

AAE study: good news for endo!

In October 2023, the AAE published a study showing just how powerful these market shifts are. The study focused data derived from insurance-reimbursed claims. Over the period of 2019 to 2023, some highlighted trends include:

• 4% increase in GP-performed periodontic treatments
• 7% increase in GP-performed implant treatments
• 10% increase in GP-performed oral surgery treatments
• 20% increase in GP-performed orthodontic treatments

The period of the study coincides with the pandemic, which could influence trends. For example, patients during that time may have been less receptive to being referred. “Specialist” often invokes the feeling of “expensive”, and during the pandemic, many patients were subjected to atypical economic pressures.

However, endodontics completely resisted and overcame the same GP and patient market forces during that time. Here’s the key result:

• Endodontists increased their market share of treatments by 6%

That’s particularly good news because it shows two things:

• GPs are less likely to view endodontics as a competitive opportunity for growth.
• Patients trust and value endodontists more than ever.

Impact in the “back to normal” market

Another result of the study showed is that treatment levels in endodontics have returned to and exceeded pre-pandemic levels. In fact, 2022 saw a 3.3% increase in endodontic procedures over 2019.

So, what does this mean for your practice today? Of course, there can be regional and local factors that affect you differently than the overall national trends. But generally, endodontists today are practicing in an expanding market: growing patient share, growing treatment share, and growing in the overall number of endodontic procedures performed.

Are you feeling growth to the level you should? If you are, then for the reasons I outlined at the beginning of this article, your profitability should be surging over the same period. If you’re not feeling it, there is often an in-practice reason. For example, there could be a weakness in your referral marketing, scheduling or teamwork.

The reason you should pay attention to market trends is that they are guideposts for evaluating your practice and business performance. They signal when you may need to adjust in your business strategies to stay on top of your game. If you are uncertain how to approach that task, Endo Mastery can help with a complimentary practice analysis.