A survey of retired dentists in the United States

lU uccessful retirement from the active prac­ tice of dentistry takes careful planning and de­ cisive action. To assist members of the profes­ sion in what is often a complex and uncertain transition, the council surveyed a national sample of retired dentists. Summary statistics from this initial attempt at collecting baseline information on retired dentists are presented in Table 1. Such baseline data will assist cur­ rently active dentists in the retirement plan­ ning process. The age distribution of active dentists in the United States, according to a 1982 survey1, is shown in Table l . 1 The table shows that den­ tistry can be described as a relatively youthful profession. Approximately 68,000, or 53.2% of active dentists in the United States are younger than 45 years. Only 8.1% of currently active dentists are 65 years or older. In addition, it is estimated that approximately 15,000 dentists are now retired from the clinical practice of dentistry in the United States (January 1982).