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How many dentists are there in the United States?

Around 200,000 general dentists. Split 330 million people into thirds making 3, 1 and 0 visits, or 440 million a year. With hygienists, a dentist covers 10 a day for 220 days, or 2,200. Graduates give 210,000 dentists of all kinds, about 170,000 general.

Updated

How a 90-point answer starts

I'll come at this from patients. I'll estimate how many dental visits Americans make in a year and divide by how many visits one dentist can cover.

See the full answer, the 50 and 70 versions, and what moves each score up.

Practice this question free

The numbers, step by step

Yearly dental visits from three equal groups of 110 million people, divided by the visits one dentist covers in a year. The schools check assumes a fifth of dentists specialize.

Visits by regulars110 million × 3
330 million
Total visits a year330 million + 110 million × 1
440 million
Working days a year4.5 days × 49 weeks
about 220
Visits one dentist covers10 a day × 220 days
2,200
General dentists440 million ÷ 2,200
200,000
Sense check only: people per dentist330 million ÷ 200,000
1,650
Check: general dentists from schools70 × 100 a year × 30 years = 210,000, × 80%
about 170,000
At 8 visits a day440 million ÷ (8 × 220)
250,000
At 12 visits a day440 million ÷ (12 × 220)
about 167,000

What the interviewer listens for

  • Do you set it up as visits needed divided by visits one dentist covers?
  • Do you split people by how often they go, not use one average?
  • Do you account for hygienists doing much of the work?
  • Do you check the result a second way, not only as people per dentist?
  • Do you say which input moves the answer most?

Common mistakes

  • Assuming all 330 million people go twice a year.Many go once or not at all, and the regulars go more than twice once treatment is counted.
  • Giving every visit an hour of the dentist's own time.Hygienists do most cleanings, so this makes each dentist cover too few visits and the count too high.
  • A dentist working 365 days, or 5 days in all 52 weeks, covers too many visits and pushes the count too low.
  • Not saying the count is general dentists.Checkups and fillings size general practice, so say that specialists such as orthodontists come on top.

Likely follow-ups

  • Regulars come for two checkups and never need treatment. How many dentists then?About 150,000. Regulars' visits fall to 220 million and the total to 330 million.
  • Why four and a half days a week?Plenty of practices close one afternoon or run a short Friday, and 49 weeks leaves room for holidays. At 5 days for 50 weeks the count drops to 176,000.
  • The interviewer wants specialists counted too. Where do you start?From each specialty's own patients, for example orthodontists from the share of teenagers who get braces, not by stretching the general dentist's day.
“Doing the maths quietly was fine. Doing it while talking was slow. Practicing both together on Soreno helped me get through calculations with fewer pauses.”
Jordan W.Bain offer

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