Study finds surge in U.S. dental students

U.S. schools are churning out more dentists, according to an ADA survey released this month. Enrollment in American dental schools has increased every year for the past nine years, rising 14.3% since the 1999-2000 academic year, the ADA found.

According to the report, U.S. schools enrolled 19,702 students in 2008, up from 17,242 in 1999-2000. And more of these students are finishing school. As attrition declined, the number of dental school graduates increased 17.1% during that period, from 4,095 to 4,796.

Much of the increase came from larger class sizes. The number of schools only increased from 55 to 57 in the nine years studied.

Women led the surge. The number of female students rose 35.9%, while the number of male students rose only 1.2%. In fact, male enrollment had been declining until 2003-2004.

Overall, the dental student body went from 37.8% female in 1999-2000 to 44.9% female in 2008-2009. It's less clear whether the student body became more ethnically diverse. The percent of white students dropped from 63.5% to 59.9%, while blacks increased from 4.7% to 5.8% and Hispanics from 5.3% to 6.2%.

But the percentage of Asians dipped from 25.0% to 23.4%, while American Indians stayed about constant, going from 0.6% to 0.7%. And the number of students who declined to state their ethnicity increased as well.

While the majority of white dental students are still male, the majority of black and Hispanic students are female.

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