Dental · Benchmarks · for The Inactive Patient List
How busy dentists say they are
The dentist-capacity poll that Chapter 6 of The Inactive Patient List mentions. It changes every quarter, so the book points here instead of printing it as current.
Last checked: 25 September 2026
What changes: these surveys update; this page is re-dated when they do.
Every figure is labelled published: from a public, primary source, shown exactly as the book's numbers sheet records it, with the source, its publisher, the data year and the date it was read. See the editorial policy.
These are national survey figures, not practice benchmarks. They say nothing about any one practice's patients.
In Q2 2026 about a quarter of dentists said they were not busy enough and could have treated more patients.
What the book says, in its own words (claim C09).
In the book: Chapter 6
| Figure | Value | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dentists reporting not busy enough (web page, dated) percent of dentists |
26% Published |
Q2 2026 |
The State of the U.S. Dental Economy, 2nd Quarter 2026 Update (ADA HPI) American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute Captured 25 September 2026 · https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/research/hpi/state_us_dental_economy_q22026.pdf |
Caveat (the book's): Quarterly poll; changes each quarter. Goes to /benchmarks/dentist-capacity with a date; not printed as a current fact.
Source notes
- The State of the U.S. Dental Economy, 2nd Quarter 2026 Update (ADA HPI) (American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute; Q2 2026; captured 25 September 2026)
Quarterly poll; changes every quarter (28-35% during 2025). Perishable: goes on /benchmarks/dentist-capacity, dated.
Back to the companion page, or run the inactive-patient value estimator. Figures here are recorded in the book's foundation files (commit 92d48345).