As 2026 really kicks into gear, the financial pressures of last year haven’t abated – if anything, the situation is now even more challenging. With the passing of time, we’re beginning to see and feel these pressures to an extent we didn’t before. Government policies like the rise in National Insurance – and another minimum wage increase soon to follow – have started to bite. More businesses, including giants like Amazon, are reducing their staff numbers or shutting down completely. The ‘labour illusion’ (a natural bias that equates effort with value) is becoming more prominent. Big-business’ revenue spend on AI is increasing by hundreds of billions of pounds.
These global conditions are inevitably trickling through to practices, which are more compressed than ever. The cost of employing a team is rising, along with other overheads. Buying behaviour has changed, as patients pause before spending their money. And with all of this going on, more and more practice owners are emulating those huge businesses by turning to AI for help with essential tasks.
This strange convergence of factors is creating a new working landscape. Historically, practice owners would dig deep and work more during tough times – but that’s not the solution now. Practices are under real pressure, across both their finances and their effectiveness. Everything is becoming more complicated, and in many cases, employees are beginning to invest less of themselves in what they’re doing. The same tricks you’ve used before no longer work.
The bottom line is that profit doesn’t care if you’re having problems, or National Minimum Wage is rising, or your team is busy. This brutal truth results in a groundswell of frustration and confusion – not just within individual practices, but throughout the dental industry.
Despite this mounting pressure, dentistry is still a good place to be; especially when compared to industries like leisure and tourism, or the public sector. Dentists simply need a new set of skills, and a discerning eye when it comes to advice. I’m not here to present any firm answers or “easy” solutions – in fact, I’d suggest a cautious approach to those who do. Instead, bring your own judgement to what the zeitgeist says. One great example of this is the increasing drive to replace or “streamline” human effort with AI.
This isn’t necessarily wrong, but it comes with a warning: treat AI as you would a new employee. It can’t simply be the low-input solution. To get the best results, it needs to be trained, nurtured, and given strictly defined tasks. It’s also better at some things than others. In the world of tax, for instance, most of its learning is fed by HMRC, or worse still, accountants acting for HMRC, meaning it will never fight tooth and nail on your behalf. In this case, you’d always be better choosing an agency that can truly act in your best interests.
So, before you do anything else – like investing in coaching, or surrendering your tax position to a bot – I’d suggest you first get a clear picture of what’s going on in your practice. Look for visibility across your finances, marketing, and dentistry. This will mean that you can channel your efforts into what’s likely to be most effective, rather than rushing for the cliff’s edge with everyone else.
If you want our analysis and diverse opinion from our field of experts, then we would be happy to help.
