These data reveal that the national rate of active dentists per 100,000 inhabitants is 82, rising to 134 in the Community of Madrid, which is the region with the highest concentration of practicing dentistry professionals in the entire country. On the contrary, the autonomous community with the lowest rate is Castilla La Mancha, with 46 dentists per 100,000 inhabitants.

In this period (2013-2022) women dentists have increased their number from 17,241 in 2013 to 23,916 in 2022. Therefore, if a decade ago women represented 52.1% of the total, they currently constitute 58.4% of the population of dentists in Spain.

Regarding the Degree in Dentistry, the number of graduates from both public and private faculties has remained constant in recent years, currently reaching 1,775 students per year.

Based on these data and according to the projection analysis carried out, the estimated number of dentists that will be active in 2030 stands at 44,600 professionals. These calculations are based on the verification of a drastic decrease in the percentage of registered members with respect to the total number of graduates (in 2022 only 31% were registered with respect to the total number of graduates, a figure that in the period 2017-2020 was over 50 %).

These are the main conclusions drawn from the technical report on the demography of dentists in Spain, prepared by the General Council of Dentists based on data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the Ministry of Health.

Spain, the dental factory of Europe

“Spain is one of the countries with the highest number of graduates each year, more than 1,700, as a result of the proliferation of dental schools. But this problem is aggravated because, in addition, in our country there is very low dental care, which brings with it a pernicious equation that pushes dental professionals to emigrate or to underemployment”, denounces the president of the General Council of Dentists, Óscar Castro Kingdom.

In the opinion of the head of the College Organization, the fact that the excess of professionals will continue to worsen "is a real problem that the competent authorities have to solve."

“It does not make sense that there is an overpopulation of dentists in our society and that there are only 960 dentists working in public health. If we really want to promote a dental health plan that covers the basic needs of the population, it is urgent to hire more professionals and put oral health at the center of public health policies ”, he concluded.