Greek Dentists Migrate Due to Crisis

A number of 600 dentists have left Greece and relocated abroad during the last four years due to the financial crisis the country is facing. Just  like other doctors, dentists are now abandoning Greece to seek their professional survival in other countries, mainly in Europe.
According to data from the Athens Dental Association, which is the most representative science association in Greece because of its size, a number of about 600 dentists have left the association during the last four years.
The percentage of immigrant dentists has doubled within the year 2010, as 95 dentists asked for certificates-passports from the Athens Association, while the number reached 181 in 2011. An additional number of 188 left in 2012, while a number of 108 scientists had left by last August.
“Dentistry has been significantly damaged by the long-standing crisis. Dental human resources migrating abroad every year is constantly increasing and regards all age groups,” the President of the Athens Dental Association, Athanassios Yfantis pointed out, who demanded at the same time from the state “to support dentistry and young scientists.”
Dentists, who had their own dental office and had made professional plans and investments, were chiefly affected by the financial crisis. In 2011, 101 dentists with their own professional office (and 80 without) left Greece. In 2012 the number reached 123 (plus 65 dentistry graduates), while in 2013 an additional 63 dentists closed down their dental offices and migrated to European countries.
Concerning the age spectrum of the scientists that migrated, the data concerning the years 2010 and 2011 show that the crisis affected equally both young dentistry graduates (25 to 35 years old) and scientists of a mature, productive age (36 to 55 years old). From the year 2011, the situation has been changing, as the majority of dentists migrating are between 36 to 55 years old.

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