Families say this is a bad time for big purchases.
The University of Michigan’s preliminary October reading of consumer sentiment slipped to 46.3, from 48.1 in September and 53.6 a year earlier. The overall index changed little, but the survey’s director said families’ views of buying conditions for durable goods “plummeted amid high prices and borrowing costs,” and sentiment among lower-income consumers dropped steeply. The final October reading is due October 23.
The hard numbers point the same way. Employers added only 29,000 jobs in September and unemployment rose to 4.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer prices were up 3.7% from a year earlier, from 3.4% in August, and prices for dental services rose faster, up 6.0%. Orthodontic fees are not tracked separately. In the New York Fed’s September survey, more households said credit is harder to get than a year ago. These are national consumer measures, not orthodontic data.
Potential orthodontic impact
A treatment plan that costs several thousand dollars and runs for two years is exactly the kind of purchase families now say they are putting off. Lower-income families, who are feeling it most, are also the ones most likely to need a low down payment. Expect more “let us think about it” this fall, not less.
What to do next
Have your treatment coordinator sort this month’s families who didn’t start by the reason they gave. If cost leads, have your office manager check whether your lowest down payment and longest plan still fit a tight budget, before anyone considers discounting the fee.
Make sure every family that leaves without starting has a follow-up call on the calendar. In a slow fall, the families who said “not yet” are where next quarter’s starts come from.
University of Michigan · Surveys of Consumers, preliminary October reading ↗ · Bureau of Labor Statistics · September jobs report, released October 2 ↗ · Bureau of Labor Statistics · September consumer prices, released October 14 ↗ · Bureau of Labor Statistics · September prices by category, including dental services (table 2) ↗ · New York Fed · Survey of Consumer Expectations, September, released October 7 ↗
Nearly two in five dentists say they aren’t busy enough.
In the ADA Health Policy Institute’s third-quarter survey of 704 dentists in private practice, 38% said they were not busy enough and could have treated more patients, up from 26% in the second quarter. Dentists’ confidence in their own practices and in the dental sector fell, and the report says consumer spending on dental care is down 2.4% so far this year.
Hiring is still hard even so. Among dentists recruiting in the last three months, 88.3% called hiring hygienists very or extremely challenging, and 76.8% said the same about dental assistants. This survey covers dentists broadly, not orthodontists.
Potential orthodontic impact
A general dentist with open chairs has more reason to keep cases in-house, including aligner cases, and may send fewer patients your way. At the same time, a slower dental market has not made experienced assistants easy to find.
What to do next
This quarter, have your office manager list new patients by referring office for the last 12 months and flag any office whose referrals have dropped. Call or visit your top five referring dentists before the holidays and ask what would make referring easier.
If you are hiring assistants, don’t count on the slowdown to make it easy. Have your office manager compare your pay with current local job postings before setting year-end raises.
ADA Health Policy Institute · State of the U.S. dental economy, Q3 2026 ↗
A “STOP” to a promotion may no longer have to end a family’s appointment reminders.
On October 1, the Federal Communications Commission released new rules on how people can opt out of calls and texts. An opt-out from informational messages, such as appointment reminders, can be treated as covering only that type of message, while an opt-out from marketing still ends all marketing from that sender. A business can also choose one official way to opt out, such as replying “stop” or one of six other set words, as long as every message explains it.
The rules take effect 30 days after they are published in the Federal Register, which had not happened as of October 19. They also replace an earlier “revoke all” rule, due to take effect in January 2027, under which a single STOP could have ended every message from a practice. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Potential orthodontic impact
Most practices send reminders, payment notices and promotions from the same number and the same system. Whether one STOP ends all of them depends on how your texting vendor sorts them. A family that stops getting reminders is a family that misses appointments.
What to do next
This month, have your office manager ask your texting or practice-software vendor, in writing, how it separates reminders from marketing messages, which opt-out words it recognizes and when it will update for the new rules.
Have your marketing lead send promotions separately from reminders, and make sure every promotional text says how to opt out.
Federal Communications Commission · Order FCC 26-67 on revoking consent, released October 1 ↗
Google is tightening what you can say on your Maps listing.
Google has updated the advertising rules in its content policy for Maps and Business Profiles, the listings that appear in Maps and local search. The listing itself may not include promotional content such as time-limited promotions, prices or direct calls to action. Posts may not include email addresses, phone numbers, social media links or links to other websites that are not related to your business, though offers and updates are still allowed in Posts. Search Engine Roundtable first reported the change on October 6.
Google has not said when it will start enforcing the change or whether it applies to content already posted.
Potential orthodontic impact
Many practice listings say something like “Free consultation, $500 off braces, call today.” Content that breaks Google’s rules can be removed. Your listing is often the first thing a parent sees when comparing practices nearby, so it is worth keeping it clean and accurate.
What to do next
This week, have your marketing lead read the profile description and other listing details for each location and move prices and limited-time offers to your website. In Posts, make sure every phone number, email address and link points to your own practice. While they are there, check that your practice name, address and phone number match your website exactly.
Google · Maps and Business Profile prohibited and restricted content policy ↗ · Search Engine Roundtable · October 6 report on the policy change ↗
Protect the starts you already have.
Our demand forecast expects patient volume to stay flat over the next 6 to 12 months, leaning slightly lower. This issue points the same way. Families say it is a bad time for big purchases, and dentists have open chairs and may refer less. In that kind of market, the practices that do well capture more of the families already in front of them: they follow up with everyone who said “not yet,” keep reminders reaching patients and keep their listing accurate. Align Technology reports third-quarter results on October 28, and we will cover what they mean for practices in the next issue.
- Sort families who didn’t start by the reason they gave, and schedule a follow-up for each.
- Check your lowest down payment and longest plan before considering a discount.
- Review referrals by office and call your top five referring dentists before the holidays.
- Ask your texting vendor how it handles STOP for reminders and for promotions.
- Move prices and limited-time offers off your Google listing and onto your website.
Keep looking ahead.
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