# When do dentists retire?

The average U.S. dentist retired at 68.7 in 2024, up from 64.7 in 2001, according to the ADA Health Policy Institute. Careers lengthened from 37.8 to 41.3 years over the same period, as the [practice lifecycle](https://ddsintel.com/lifecycle) shows.

By DDSIntel Editorial. Source: DDSIntel, https://ddsintel.com/lifecycle/when-do-dentists-retire. Published 2026-10-26; data as of 2026-10-16.

## Key numbers

- **68.7** average retirement age (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2024; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce)
- **64.7** average retirement age (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2001; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce)
- **41.3** years, the average career length (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2024; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce)
- **15.2%** of U.S. dentists were 65 or older (ADA Health Policy Institute, 2025; https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce)

## What is the average retirement age for dentists?

The average U.S. dentist retired at 68.7 in 2024, according to the ADA Health Policy Institute. That is four years later than in 2001, when the average was 64.7. Average career length rose from 37.8 to 41.3 years over the same period, so dentists are both starting and finishing later.

## How many dentists are close to retiring?

In 2025, 15.2% of professionally active U.S. dentists were 65 or older and another 18.6% were 55 to 64, according to the ADA Health Policy Institute. With retirement averaging 68.7, most of the older group is within a few years of the typical exit age. The [retirement statistics](https://ddsintel.com/data/dentist-retirement-statistics) page has the full set.

## What does later retirement mean for practice transitions?

Later retirement concentrates exits: more owners reach the typical exit age in the same few years, and buyers have less time to plan. That makes timing the scarce information, which is what [dental transition signals](https://ddsintel.com/signals) are built to show, in aggregate, from public records about practices and their owners.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the dentist retirement age still rising?

It rose from 64.7 in 2001 to 68.7 in 2024 in ADA Health Policy Institute data; future years depend on each year’s survey.

### How long do dentists practice?

The average career span was 41.3 years in 2024, up from 37.8 years in 2001.

### Do dentists who retire always sell their practice?

No. Some close, some pass the practice to family and some sell before or after retiring; see [the practice lifecycle](https://ddsintel.com/lifecycle).

### Where do these figures come from?

The ADA Health Policy Institute’s dentist workforce data, linked in the sources below and collected in [dental market data](https://ddsintel.com/data).

## Sources

1. ADA Health Policy Institute. The dentist workforce. https://www.ada.org/resources/research/health-policy-institute/dentist-workforce

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DDSIntel is a dental transition intelligence platform that detects pre-market dental practice transition signals for brokers, DSOs, lenders and the firms that serve them.