Update on student debt: trends and possible consequences

This paper is an update on the issue of dental student debt and provides additional data and an exploration of continued trends which were outlined by Douglass and Fein in the 1995 IOM study of The Future of Dental Education. Dental school tuitions have continued to increase at rates at or above the consumer price index. These tuition bills are increasingly being met by debt financing on the part of the students. These trends are described and then related to recent data on the future plans of dental school seniors. The second part of the paper will provide new updated date on dentists' incomes and analyze the trend in dental fees versus the consumer price index. The final section provides a summary of pay back mechanisms currently being offered to students.