During an interactive session at Becker's The Future of Dentistry Roundtable, Kurt Davis, founder of MedTeams, led a discussion on the challenges facing the dental industry, particularly in terms of staffing and recruitment. Dau Tucker, the chief people officer, with SALT Dental Collective, and Priyanki Amroliwala, senior manager in talent acquisition with 42 North Dental, participated in the conversation.
The panel discussed dental staff shortages, particularly shortages of hygienists, and the trend of increased demand for more flexibility among prospective employees. They also discussed the potential of cross-medical recruitment, where medical professionals from other fields are trained to work in dental practices.
Editor's note: Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
3 takeaways + quotes:
1: Building relationships with high schools and vocational programs can help attract and develop future dental assistants.
Priyanki Amroliwala: Build a relationship with local high schools and you can convince young people to go into dental assisting and eventually become dentists as well.
2: Offering on-the-job training programs can help attract future dental assistants.
PA: We're doing an on-the-job training program and bringing in people from different industries that otherwise wouldn't have the means to invest in the training necessary to move into the dental industry.
3: Exploring cross-medical pollination, such as recruiting nurses or EMTs, can provide a new pool of talent for dental practices.
Dau Tucker: We recruit out of a surgical tech program for a dental assistant bootcamp. It's a 12-week program to get some as close to becoming a dental assistant as possible. We've done some recruiting of nurse aides that crossover into dental assisting as well.