Staffing Issues

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated ongoing staffing challenges facing the dental industry, largely affecting the supply of dentists, dental assistants and dental hygienists. 

Here's how a dental company, practice, nonprofit clinic and college are working to alleviate staffing issues in dentistry:

Dental recruitment company DirectDental is partnering with the Harbor Dental Society to help dental practices in California fill vacant roles.

A Texas dentist has begun offering dental assisting classes at his practice to help meet the high demand for dental assistants in the area.

Residents in Humboldt County, Calif., are struggling to find dental care amid a dental workforce shortage hitting the area, ABC affiliate KRCR reported May 5. 

New York has the lowest job resignation rate in the country, according to a survey from WalletHub.

A sense of unappreciation, COVID-19 and a lack of training programs are all contributing factors to the ongoing shortage of dental hygienists in the industry, according to William Simon, DMD.

A nonprofit dental clinic in Maine and the adult education department of the local school district are partnering on a new dental assistant program to alleviate the local workforce shortage, Bangor Daily News reported May 1. 

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the beginning of the Great Resignation, with dental hygienists representing one of the largest exoduses in the dental industry. But even as the pandemic wanes, few hygienists have returned to the field. 

Dentists, dental assistants and dental hygienist jobs are expected to grow by 71,100 through 2030, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.