Various workforce trends have created a perfect storm for the dental hygienist shortage, and dental practices are struggling to keep up.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing shortages, with dental hygienists representing one of the largest exoduses in the industry. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene found that 48.3% of hygienists left their position because they didn’t want to work as a hygienist until the pandemic was under control. This was cited as the leading reason behind the exodus. However, few returned to the field even as the pandemic waned.
The American Dental Association reported that less than half of the hygienists that left employment early in the pandemic returned to the workforce as of 2021. Shortages have hardly improved today, leading to long patient wait times, inflated salaries and financial pressures for practices.
“We initially experienced a 15% reduction in dental assistants and hygienists, alongside accelerated retirements among older professionals. This led to a wage inflation of 12-18% for hygienists as practices vied for talent,” Travis Franklin, CFO of Heartland Dental, told Becker’s.
“Current challenges include staff shortages in rural areas, higher turnover rates compared to pre-pandemic levels, and rising labor costs impacting practice economics.”
Although recruiting hygienists has become slightly less challenging since 2023, it is still difficult for dentists, according to recent data from the ADA. In the ADA’s “Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry” report for the third quarter of 2025, 74% of dentists reported the recruitment of hygienists as being “extremely challenging.” Roughly 32% of dentists reported having recruited hygienists, while nearly 70% did not.
These persistent shortages have left practice owners wondering why more hygienists have not reentered the workforce.
“I was expecting everybody to come back after Covid and start working again … I just can’t understand why we still have such a significant labor shortage in dentistry where everyone seems to be looking for dental employees,” Huzefa Kapadia, DDS, told Becker’s. “People still can’t find enough employees to staff their businesses. I do think it’s going to get better. They are training more people for dental hygiene programs as well as dental assisting, but it’ll take a while. I think it might take a couple of more years.”
Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of hygienists will grow faster than the average industry at 7% by 2034, other projections still create a bleak picture for the near future. Nearly a third of dental hygienists plan to retire within the next six years, according to Dentalpost’s 2025 Dental Salary Survey Report. Additionally, 20% of hygienists reported having changed jobs within the past 12 months, while about 12% of hygienists reported applying for new jobs or were planning to do so before 2026.
The top reasons hygienists reported seeking new jobs were for higher income, a better work environment and better benefits.
As the industry looks to improve retainment of hygienists working within the field, leaders are also working to attract more people to the field. Many leaders agree that innovative solutions are required across the field to alleviate shortages long term.
“From my perspective, an effective solution requires addressing both the supply and demand for hygienists,” John Bell. CFO at Fireside Dental Co., told Becker’s. “To increase the supply of hygienists, a coordinated marketing campaign to promote the hygienist career path to high school and college students could be very impactful to raise awareness and promote the opportunity to young people. To impact the demand side, the industry will need to embrace impactful AI workflow optimization tools that reduce the cognitive load and staff time required to do non-clinical tasks. There’s no magic bullet, but challenges create opportunities to improve.”
