Marketing to Dentists: How to Market to Dentists

Originally published August 2023. Updated February 2026.

Marketing to healthcare providers (HCPs) is no easy feat. HCPs—including dentists—make up a niche market without a ton of time on their hands to research the new product you’re marketing. The competition to earn their attention is fierce, so the more specific you can get with your targeting and messaging, the better.

When marketing to dentists, you have to go beyond traditional demographic data and dig a bit deeper into dentist-specific segmentation and targeting. Here are our top tips on how to market to dentists.

How to Market to Dentists Using Precise Targeting Methods

Start with an Understanding of the Dental Market

Market Size and Growth

The dental market has been increasing steadily over the past few years and is expected to continue its upward trend, reaching $281.2 billion by 2035 with a CAGR of 4.86%. This growth is driven by the US’s aging population and the ongoing demand for preventive and restorative dental care. However, this trend could slow, as younger generations have benefited from water fluoridation, more preventive dental education, and improved insurance coverage, suggesting the number of appointments per person could decrease in the future, along with increases in efficiency.

(Source: Precedence Research, 2026)

The US dental market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.86% to reach $281.2 billion by 2035.

Total Addressable Market

To set realistic goals and determine campaign success, you have to understand the total addressable market. When it comes to marketing to dentists and other specialty HCPs, you have to remember just how tiny the community is. Add in geographic constraints or subspecialty layers, and your total addressable market shrinks significantly.

According to the American Dental Association, there are 202,485 active dentists in the US as of 2025.

Next, Look into Traditional Demographic Information

I know we said that you have to go beyond traditional demographic data to successfully market to dentists—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use that information at all. Niche targeting starts with the general and then goes to the specific. Although these details tend to be less important when targeting dentists, they can still be useful for making inferences about your audience and for tightening segments for smaller marketing budgets. And, of course, dentists aren’t just doctors—they’re people too. So, it’s helpful to think about their circumstances and demographic distribution.

Age

Within the total addressable market is a select group of individuals who are the decision-makers with the power to purchase your product. When marketing to dentists, it’s important to understand who these decision-makers are and what their roles within the practice are. Using age can be an initial strategy for slimming down your target audience to key decision-makers.

According to the American Dental Association, the average age of retirement has remained fairly steady at 68-69 over the last decade. Depending on your product, these ages could serve as reference points for dentists looking to sell or make other strategic decisions in their practices. Overall, dental growth has stabilized as retirements among older dentists have surged, with most boomer dentists aging out of the workforce over the next few years. On the flip side, this also means that the workforce is getting younger, leading to a shift in practice culture and increasing adoption of advanced technology.

Location

Location won’t be a major factor in a traditional marketing plan for dentists unless you have specific limitations or goals. Typically, limiting to a geographic region creates an audience that is too small for most advertising platforms. However, depending on your product, you can use this information to support campaigns based on:

• CME deadlines or other licensing requirements
• Enrollment dates for programs
• Prevalence of Medicare, Medicaid, or other specific private payers

The density of active dentists across the US is about 59.5 per 100,000.

Although California has the most dentists in the US at 30.2k, Washington D.C. has the highest density per capita at 103.2, followed by Alaska at 78.4, even though both regions land in the bottom 10 states in terms of the number of active dentists.

As of 2024, 60 million Americans live in areas with a shortage of dental professionals. 

Gender

When marketing to dentists, gender is probably the least used piece of classic demographic information. However, it is one of the most commonly used tactics in traditional marketing and advertising. While we don’t recommend targeting based on these criteria (unless you have a specific reason or campaign), more traditional teams may still want to know this information.

While it’s clear that male dentists are more prominent in the industry, things are beginning to even out, with parity expected in 2040. In June 2021, women saw the highest rate of dental school enrollment ever at 56%. Based on trends among female dentists, the ADA also predicts that other dental practice trends will continue to accelerate, including practice consolidation and a shift away from practice ownership. That said, the gender gap in earnings is narrowing as overall salaries decline. However, the path to practice ownership is not straightforward, with men still more likely to own a practice, especially in early career.

Then, Consider Their Life Circumstances

Beyond traditional demographics, it’s important to understand how dentists behave—not just as doctors, but as humans, too. Their personal circumstances can provide insights into how they will behave and what their top concerns in practice might be.

Happiness

There have been few studies on the state of job satisfaction and happiness among dentists worldwide. One study found that 74.2% of dentists were satisfied with their jobs at a moderate to high level, with specialists generally being more satisfied than generalists. While another found that various life factors (including things like work settings, income, marital status, etc.) were associated with overall happiness, satisfaction with life, and affect balance.

Dentistry is consistently found to be a satisfying career, and specialists tend to be even more satisfied with their careers.

Burnout

Anxiety and burnout have been prevalent problems in the industry for years. While COVID likely exacerbated these issues for a period, prevalence rates have been consistent. Approximately 42% of dentists experience burnout, and 44% experience anxiety at varying levels of severity, with a higher prevalence among women. Another report found that 82% of dentists felt major stress and burnout. The latest American Dental Association Dentist Health and Well-Being Report indicated that younger dentists are struggling more than older dentists.

Burnout among dentists is exacerbated by workforce shortages, patient attitudes, clinical dentistry, and challenges with insurance reimbursement. 

Salary and Job Satisfaction

The national average dentist salary in 2025 was $318,000, with the median hitting $225,000. Nearly 77% of dentists are owners or partners in their practice, which helps increase average salary. Actual salaries vary widely by employment type and location, with the largest group of dentists (27%) earning between $100,000 and $200,000. Dentists earn the most in Vermont, with an average salary of $240,740, while dentists in Hawaii earn an average of $136,200.

In 2025, the average dental salary was $318,000.

Now, when it comes to dentistry, there is a lot to consider that goes into those numbers, such as:

• How dentists are paid (salary, percent of collections, percent of production, etc.)
• Private practice vs. DSO employment (more on this below)
• Years of experience
• Specialty procedures (particularly implants)

Ultimately, 74% of dentists are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their compensation. Today’s dentists are redefining success in different ways, considering more flexible work environments and culture rather than just compensation. Autonomy, purpose, and work-life balance are all keys to overall job satisfaction and happiness.

(Source: Dental Post, 2026)

This high level of satisfaction is important; only 11% of dentists changed jobs in the past year, citing a better work environment and location as the top factors for the change, rather than pay.

Hyper-Specific Targeting Criteria for Improved Marketing to Dentists

Traditional demographic targeting can serve as a starting point for marketing to dentists; however, layering those general targets with additional niche specifications is key to running a successful campaign. It’s these nuanced details and insights that will help you target the right dental prospects without wasting precious marketing or advertising budget.

Practice Settings

Practice setting is one of the most important slices within dentistry. With so many practices joining dental service organizations (DSOs), you need to know who is in charge of making decisions. Beyond that, it’s important to consider how this impacts their day-to-day. Do they run a small office where they have hired each person who works there? Or are they part of a larger machine?

Dental practice ownership has declined from 84.7% in 2005 to 73% in 2023.

(Source: American Dental Association, 2025)

Ultimately, the data suggest that while overall practice ownership has declined, there is also a generational shift. Dentists are more likely to become practice owners later in their careers compared to earlier cohorts. Ownership is becoming more delayed as early-career dentists are more likely to join Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) due to educational debt and work-life balance. About 27% of dentists in their first 10 years of practice are associated with a DSO, and that number drops to 13% after the 10-year mark.

Dental practices remain fairly small, even as consolidation increases. Approximately 34% of dentists are in solo practices (practice alone from a single location) and 39% work in group practices (single location with at least 1 other dentist); the remaining dentists are part of DSOs or some other employment agreement. Most practices operate with a 1:2 dentist-to-support-staff ratio, which can serve as a rough estimate for calculating a practice’s size and spending potential. If you can get the data, targeting based on practice size is a great way to ensure you’re reaching the right prospects who can authorize decisions or funds, or to take a more strategic approach to creating content for outside influencers.

(Source: Dental Post, 2023)

Payment

Insurance

More and more dentists are choosing to adopt alternative payment models outside the traditional insurance model. While many factors contribute to this decision, most dentists simply want more control over their practice, including greater control over fees, reduced administrative burden, and the ability to support higher-quality care.

25% of dentists have dropped out of some insurance networks, and another 25% are considering doing so this year.

Many dentists are choosing a fee-for-service model, essentially operating as an out-of-network practice. The practice will accept insurance and charge the full fee for the procedures (which differs from an in-network practice, where the negotiated provider fee schedule applies). In some cases, dentists find they can make more money charging patients directly for services (some offering payment plans or discounts for up-front cash payments). Others offer in-office dental plans in which patients pay a fixed monthly or annual fee in exchange for preventive services at no charge and other services at a discounted rate.

Public Programs

Approximately 25.5 million Americans receive dental coverage through Medicare Advantage plans. Thirty-eight states offer enhanced adult Medicaid dental benefits, and the only state without any coverage is Alabama. Approximately 41% of dentists participate in these programs, but there is significant variance between states and regions. But it’s important to note that enrolling as a Medicaid provider does not equate to treating Medicaid patients. For example, in Michigan, over 20% of dentists enrolled as Medicaid providers treat 0 Medicaid patients, leaving a smaller subset to care for this patient population. Understanding the participation breakdown (and how this impacts your specific product) is an important research step in developing your marketing to dentists strategy.

Skills and Subspecialties

Dentistry has several specialties that can be layered onto degree programs targeting DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) and DMD (Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry or Doctor of Dental Medicine). Taking this layered approach can help you reach an even smaller group of prospects by specialty:

• Dental Anesthesiology (DA)
• Dental Public Health
• Endodontics
• Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
• Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Oral Medicine
• Orofacial Pain (OFP)
• Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
• Periodontics
• Pediatric Dentistry
• Prosthodontics

Look-alike Audiences and Hashtags

Look-alike audiences and hashtags can be useful for identifying social media audiences. Specific audiences and hashtags can be used to weed out consumers and make it easier to target the dentists you care about. However, when targeting dentists and other healthcare specialties, it’s important to take a critical look at who follows the accounts/hashtags, as well as the types of content they promote and are associated with.

For example, there are a variety of associations for DDSs and DMDs to join, but many of these organizations’ social media accounts post patient-related content, such as tips on foods to avoid for whiter teeth or PSAs on how often they should be visiting the dentist. You should evaluate each account before adding it to your targeting, but we recommend building a target audience using the following types of accounts:

• National and regional associations
• Medical school alum associations
• Conferences
• Specialty journals and publications

When it comes to hashtags, it’s important to leverage medical language, professional conferences, and professional organizations to avoid targeting patients. Some good hashtags for dentists include:

• #DentEdJobs
• #IamADEA
• #AACDfam
• #ADASmileCon

Feel a Little Overwhelmed?

Let Us Help You Develop Your Marketing to Dentists Plan

Marketing to dentists is not easy. It takes expert knowledge, a nuanced strategy, and a layered approach in order to make traditional marketing platforms home in on an audience they were not designed to target. We know there’s a lot to consider (we just wrote this nearly 3,000-word post on the matter), which is why we recommend partnering with an expert, like us, who knows exactly how to market to dentists.

At glassCanopy, we provide start-to-finish content and lead generation for organizations looking to market their products or solutions to dentists. We handle everything from strategy and content creation to campaign deployment and optimization.

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Jen Fields

Jen was born and raised in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Davis with a degree in psychology and dramatic arts. She enjoys participating in musical theater and is a trained ballet dancer. She is now resides in LA and spends her free time trying new restaurants and attempting to pet as many dogs as possible.

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