Over half of Japanese dental practices lack successors

Japan: A survey of dental practice managers revealed that over 50% of practice owners lack successors.

The awareness survey, conducted by M&A Capital Partners Co., Ltd., which interviewed 103 practice managers, also found the “lack of human resources” and “challenges of balancing practice management and patient services” as among the most common management woes experienced by Japanese dentists

Practice management woes

About 30% of the dental clinics that responded having a succession plan in place selected “intra-family” or “intra-hospital” as the type of succession.

In addition, 84.5% of the dental managers find it “difficult to balance medical work and management” and face a “shortage of dental hygienists and dental assistants”.

When asked what they would like to achieve if they had enough management resources, 54.4% responded ‘capital investment’, and 49.4% ‘increase the number of dental hygienists and dental assistants’.

Dwindling patient numbers expected

In terms of future outlook, 45.6% of the respondents said that the number of patients would severely decrease due to the declining birthrate and aging population.

38.8% responded “it is necessary to adapt to the regional medical concept and comprehensive regional care system.”

Among the 103 practice managers surveyed, 82.5% are practice owners.