Recruiting challenges for dental practices have slightly fluctuated since the start of 2023, according to polls from the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute.
The ADA's "Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry" reports from January and November reported similar percentages of practices recruiting dental hygienists, dental assistants, dentists and administrative staff.
In the January poll, 33% of respondents were recruiting hygienists, 32.8% were recruiting assistants, 13.6% were recruiting dentists and 24.5% were recruiting administrative staff.
In the most recent survey from November, 34.1% of respondents were actively recruiting hygienists, 35.6% were recruiting assistants, 13% were recruiting dentists and 24% were recruiting administrative staff.
Here is how challenging recruiting for all four positions was in January compared to November:
Dental hygienists
Extremely challenging: January: 76.7%; November: 79%
Very challenging: January: 17%; November: 15.9%
Dental assistants
Extremely challenging: January: 54.5%; November: 54.9%
Very challenging: January: 30.8%; November: 32.8%
Dentists
Extremely challenging: January: 54.9%; November: 57.5%
Very challenging: January: 21.3%; November: 20.5%
Administrative staff
Extremely challenging: January: 44.3%; November: 46.2%
Very challenging: January: 31.8%; November: 27.4%