Dental practices have faced major staffing shortages this year, with many struggling to recruit dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and administrative staff.
According to a recent poll from the American Dental Association, at least 38 percent of respondents have found all four roles to be "extremely challenging" to recruit.
Pacific Dental Services, one of the largest DSOs in the U.S., is heavily trying to develop and recruit dental assistants into the industry.
"One of our key initiatives at PDS has been investing in the education and training of dental assistants," said CEO and Founder Stephen Thorne IV. "Over a three-year period, we implemented a comprehensive training program and more competitive compensation to attract and retain highly skilled professionals."
Dental hygienists are also in high demand but short supply. Recruiting them has been one of the big hurdles for Espire Dental, a DSO based in Denver supporting 27 locations.
"Hygienists are hard to attract and retain right now and there is a lot of pressure in the market," said Sarah Montgomery, the DSO's CFO. "We've been able to overcome a lot of that pressure and we feel pretty good about our turnover rate in hygiene."
The best ways that dentists and dental practices can effectively recruit and retain staff starts with strong leadership and culture.
"As the 'captain of the ship' it's important that our staff know we are open, sincere and available and that we set clearly defined goals," said Larry Stewart, DDS, of Texas Oral Surgery in Plano.
"To be successful, practice leaders need to engage regularly with staff with both positive and constructive feedback and empower them to actively contribute to ongoing improvement of the practice and its culture," said Kristen Cusack, CEO of Phase 1 Equity in Chicago.
In order for dental organizations and practices to find success during the staffing shortage, they need to be able to implement not only successful recruitment but retention strategies.