Dental Authority — Latest storiesDental Authority is an independent publication covering the people, practices, businesses, technology, and ideas shaping modern dentistry.https://dentalauthority.orgen-us© 2026 Dental AuthorityThe Dentists Redefining What Modern Patient Care Looks Likehttps://dentalauthority.org/insights/the-dentists-redefining-modern-patient-carehttps://dentalauthority.org/insights/the-dentists-redefining-modern-patient-careAcross the country, a small group of practice owners is rebuilding the dental visit around the patient's constraints rather than the schedule's. Their methods differ. Their arithmetic does not.Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTInsightsPatient experienceIndependent practicePractice modelsTransparencyeditors@dentalauthority.org (Nora Vance)The Independent Dental Practices Building Better Patient Experienceshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/independent-practices-building-better-patient-experienceshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/independent-practices-building-better-patient-experiencesSix offices, six different bets. What links them is not size or ownership but a willingness to redesign the schedule around a single friction point and absorb the cost.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsIndependent practicePatient experiencePractice modelseditors@dentalauthority.org (Priya Raman)How AI Is Changing the Way Patients Choose Their Dentistshttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/how-ai-is-changing-how-patients-choose-dentistshttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/how-ai-is-changing-how-patients-choose-dentistsThe referral has not disappeared. It has been rewritten by systems that summarize a practice before a patient ever visits its website — and that increasingly decide which practices get described at all.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTInnovationArtificial intelligencePatient acquisitionSearchPractice growtheditors@dentalauthority.org (Daniel Okafor)The Trust Problem: How Patients Actually Choose a Dentisthttps://dentalauthority.org/insights/the-trust-problemhttps://dentalauthority.org/insights/the-trust-problemPatients cannot evaluate clinical quality, and they know it. What they evaluate instead is remarkably consistent, and almost none of it appears on a practice’s website.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTInsightsPatient experienceTrustTransparencyCommunicationeditors@dentalauthority.org (Nora Vance)What the Rise of Dental AI Means for Practice Ownershttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/what-the-rise-of-dental-ai-means-for-practice-ownershttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/what-the-rise-of-dental-ai-means-for-practice-ownersDiagnostic software is now good enough to be worth arguing about. The arguments that matter are about liability, workflow, and who is accountable when the machine is right.Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTInnovationArtificial intelligenceDiagnosticsLiabilityPractice managementeditors@dentalauthority.org (Daniel Okafor)Ten Questions That Will Shape Dentistry in 2027https://dentalauthority.org/insights/ten-questions-shaping-dentistry-2027https://dentalauthority.org/insights/ten-questions-shaping-dentistry-2027Not predictions. The unresolved questions we expect to spend next year reporting on — and the reasons we think each one is genuinely open.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTInsightsAnalysisOutlookPolicyPractice economicsArtificial intelligenceeditors@dentalauthority.org (Elena Marsh)Inside the New Generation of Modern Dental Practiceshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/inside-the-new-generation-of-modern-dental-practiceshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/inside-the-new-generation-of-modern-dental-practicesThe offices opening now look different from the ones that opened a decade ago — and the differences are mostly in the floor plan, the staffing model, and the lease.Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsPractice designIndependent practiceStartupsReal estateeditors@dentalauthority.org (Priya Raman)Private Equity’s Grip on Dentistry Is Loosening in Unexpected Placeshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/private-equity-grip-looseninghttps://dentalauthority.org/news/private-equity-grip-looseningConsolidation has not stopped. But the buyers have gotten pickier, the multiples have compressed, and a growing number of sellers are finding that the exit they planned for is no longer on offer.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsConsolidationPrivate equityPractice ownershipValuationseditors@dentalauthority.org (Elena Marsh)Chairside Milling Grew Up. The Economics Finally Followed.https://dentalauthority.org/innovation/chairside-milling-grew-uphttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/chairside-milling-grew-upSingle-visit restorations were a clinical success and a financial disappointment for two decades. What changed was not the mill.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTInnovationCAD/CAMCeramicsPractice economicsDigital workflowseditors@dentalauthority.org (Daniel Okafor)The Hygienist Shortage Is Rewriting the Economics of the Operatoryhttps://dentalauthority.org/news/hygienist-shortage-economicshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/hygienist-shortage-economicsPractices that cannot hire hygienists are not simply seeing fewer patients. They are quietly restructuring what a dental visit is, and some of the changes are unlikely to reverse.Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsStaffingWorkforceHygienePractice economicseditors@dentalauthority.org (Priya Raman)Why More Dentists Are Buying Their Buildingshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/why-dentists-are-buying-their-buildingshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/why-dentists-are-buying-their-buildingsPractice real estate has become the quiet centerpiece of dental retirement planning — and, for some owners, the only part of the transaction that behaved as expected.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsReal estatePractice ownershipRetirementPractice economicseditors@dentalauthority.org (Elena Marsh)Dental Schools Are Quietly Redesigning the First Two Yearshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/dental-schools-redesigning-first-two-yearshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/dental-schools-redesigning-first-two-yearsSeveral programs have begun moving clinical contact earlier and compressing the basic-science sequence. The change is less about pedagogy than about who is still willing to enroll.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsEducationWorkforceCurriculumeditors@dentalauthority.org (Tom Brennan)The Case for Slower Technology in the Operatoryhttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/the-case-for-slower-technologyhttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/the-case-for-slower-technologyA minority of well-equipped practices have started deliberately delaying adoption. Their argument is not nostalgia — it is that the first three years of any dental technology are paid for by patients.Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTInnovationTechnology adoptionEvidenceMaterialsClinical judgmenteditors@dentalauthority.org (Daniel Okafor)The Quiet Return of the Solo Practicehttps://dentalauthority.org/news/the-quiet-return-of-the-solo-practicehttps://dentalauthority.org/news/the-quiet-return-of-the-solo-practiceSolo ownership was supposed to be finished. A cohort of dentists in their thirties is choosing it anyway, and their reasoning has less to do with independence than with arithmetic.Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsIndependent practicePractice ownershipStartupseditors@dentalauthority.org (Nora Vance)A Century of the Dental Chair, and What It Taught Us About Comforthttps://dentalauthority.org/insights/a-century-of-the-dental-chairhttps://dentalauthority.org/insights/a-century-of-the-dental-chairThe chair has been redesigned roughly every twenty years, always in the name of the patient. Most of the changes were for the dentist, and the profession is better for admitting it.Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTInsightsHistoryPractice designErgonomicsPatient experienceeditors@dentalauthority.org (Tom Brennan)Six States Are Weighing Dental Insurance Reform. Practices Are Paying Attention.https://dentalauthority.org/news/six-states-dental-insurance-reformhttps://dentalauthority.org/news/six-states-dental-insurance-reformThe bills differ in scope but converge on the same three provisions — and on a disagreement about who should be allowed to decide what a covered service is worth.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsPolicyInsuranceRegulationPractice economicseditors@dentalauthority.org (Elena Marsh)Intraoral Scanners Are Cheap Now. The Hard Part Is Everything Else.https://dentalauthority.org/innovation/intraoral-scanners-are-cheap-nowhttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/intraoral-scanners-are-cheap-nowHardware cost has fallen far enough to stop being the barrier. What replaced it is a set of integration problems that no vendor has an incentive to solve.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTInnovationDigital workflowsScanningInteroperabilityPractice managementeditors@dentalauthority.org (Daniel Okafor)Rural Dentistry’s Access Problem Has a Staffing Answerhttps://dentalauthority.org/news/rural-dentistry-staffing-answerhttps://dentalauthority.org/news/rural-dentistry-staffing-answerPrograms that recruit dentists to underserved counties have a persistent retention problem. The practices that keep people are solving for a different variable entirely.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsRural careAccessWorkforceStaffingeditors@dentalauthority.org (Nora Vance)What Happens When a Practice Sells and the Founder Stayshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/what-happens-when-a-practice-sells-and-the-founder-stayshttps://dentalauthority.org/news/what-happens-when-a-practice-sells-and-the-founder-staysTransition agreements routinely keep the selling dentist in the chair for two to five years. The arrangement works about as often as it fails, and the difference is usually settled in the first ninety days.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTNewsConsolidationPractice ownershipTransitionseditors@dentalauthority.org (Elena Marsh)Reading Radiographs With Software: Promising, and Carefully Watchedhttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/reading-radiographs-with-softwarehttps://dentalauthority.org/innovation/reading-radiographs-with-softwareRegulators have approved a growing number of assistive imaging tools while declining to approve autonomous ones. The distinction is doing more work than most practices realize.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTInnovationArtificial intelligenceRadiographyRegulationDiagnosticseditors@dentalauthority.org (Daniel Okafor)