Dental businesses have been closed for weeks now following the COVID-19 pandemic. With revenue sources dwindling several dental practices are staring at a financial breakdown and several more are scrambling to keep paying their employees.
But like every other crisis,COVID-19 is an opportunity too. To get some historical perspective, data available on the ADA website says that dental business deals saw massive shifts in the aftermath of the 2008 recession. While small dental concerns, employing just five or ten people, shut down in big numbers, the larger businesses, which employed over 30 people, grew by over 25%. A good amount of this growth was because several small and medium businesses joined together to form DSOs and group practices to economize on factors of scale.
Similarly, dental businesses will be faced with a choice when the economy reopens after the COVID-19 lockdown. Dental businesses will have to reimagine their enterprise structures to survive the coming times. Experts opine that around 25% of businesses will survive the crisis and grow into larger enterprises. Another 25%, most probably the smallest ones, will exit industry following the financial strain. The rest 50% will survive the crisis and continue to make break even profits. Along with this, investment in modern technologies like cloud-based dental practice management software and teledentistry are necessary to stay in business.
