The Rise of Foreign Trained Dentists in the U.S.

An interesting article titled “Will we see more foreign-trained dentists in the United States?” appears in the July 2017, issue of JADA written by Marko Vujicic (issue 7, pp. 538-540). The article explores the H-1B program with a focus on dentistry. The article presents a figure which shows the number of dentists practicing in the U.S. who received a foreign degree is rising. The article states “Across all US dental schools, there were 896 foreign nationals admitted in 2016, representing approximately 14% of total admissions. “ The article later says that around 1,165 H-1B applications for dentists were received in 2016 which is up from 414 H-1B applications in 2011. The article states “The top 3 companies applying for H-1B visas for dentists were Jefferson Dental Clinics, Western Dental, and Kool Smiles. Combined, these 3 companies account for 12% of total … Read more