Developing pipelines of dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants, providing cross-training to employees and creating career development programs are just a few of the ways dental organizations and practices have adapted to the staffing landscape in dentistry.
The 18 leaders featured in this article are speaking at Becker’s 2025 Fall Future of Dentistry Roundtable, set for Sept. 29-30 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.
If you work at a DSO or dental practice and would like to be considered as a speaker, please contact Randi Haseman at rhaseman@beckershealthcare.com.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What strategies have you used at your practice/organization to combat industry staffing issues and shortages?
Brent Barta, DDS. Owner and CEO of West 10th Dental Group (Indianapolis): Staffing is still one of the more difficult aspects of running a dental business, as we all know. One win we have had is to develop internal training programs for dental assistants to train in specialty areas. Because we are a multi-specialty group, we can train an entry-level dental assistant to support our specialists. We find that staff have interests in specialty care, and so they often are drawn to a particular aspect of clinical dentistry. We use our specialists and their teams along with a structured training program to elevate assistants within the practice. The staff member not only expands their ability and earning potential, but they tend to land in an area of practice they really love.
Jamie Burks. Director of Operations of Providence Dental Partners (Atlanta): At Providence Dental Partners, we’ve taken a strategic approach to proactively manage staffing shortages across our supported practices. We are utilizing the strongest tools and resources for job postings and passive candidate sourcing which include LinkedIn Recruiter, Indeed, Cloud Dentistry and Dental Post, as well as social media groups focused on dental jobs and opportunities. We continue building relationships with local dental schools and have confirmed sponsorships for recruiting events/job fairs through the end of the year to ensure a consistent pipeline of candidates.
To improve retention, we have provided a clear pathway for growth and development within our practices. We offer internal continuing education courses and professional training for clinical and non-clinical team members, with annual reimbursement for external courses for key staff as well. We also use internal HR and recruiting software to streamline the hiring process and support real-time communication around staffing needs from hiring managers to the recruiter.
At Providence Dental Partners, we believe that cultivating a healthy and productive work environment is essential to our success. We lead by example: upholding unwavering ethics and maintaining a transparent, approachable leadership style. Integrity comes first in everything we do. Every team member has a meaningful role, and we make it a priority to ensure they know and feel that. We’re also deeply committed to fostering leadership development, empowering our employees to grow both personally and professionally.
Stacia Edmond. Director of Recruiting of Lumio Dental (Jenks, Okla.): We have taken an innovative approach to addressing current challenges by meeting dentists where they are, and that’s both physically and digitally. We are active on social media, engaging in ways that resonate with them and speaking their language. Most importantly, we have shifted our mindset around recruiting. Rather than treating it as a one-time transaction, we view it as a long-term professional relationship, similar to a strategic sales process focused on connection, trust and ongoing value.
Joshua Everts, DDS, MD. Chief Clinical Officer of OMS360 (Alpharetta, Ga.): At OMS360, we’ve implemented a multi-faceted approach to address industry staffing challenges: First, we’ve developed a comprehensive “career ladder” program that creates clear advancement pathways for clinical staff from dental assistants to surgical assistants to expanded-function roles. This internal growth pipeline has reduced turnover by giving team members a vision for their future within our organization rather than seeking advancement elsewhere.
Second, we’ve reimagined our recruitment strategy to focus on candidate experience and cultural alignment rather than just clinical skills. By emphasizing our values and creating a structured onboarding process that includes structured training and relationship building, we’ve seen significantly higher retention rates among new hires.
Third, we’ve implemented a standardized scheduling optimization process across practices that allows us to maximize productivity with existing staff. This includes templated procedure blocks, staff cross-training and task redistribution to ensure everyone is operating at the top of their license.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve recognized that today’s staffing challenges require fundamentally rethinking traditional approaches rather than simply offering higher compensation. By creating a culture where staff feel genuinely valued, supported in their growth, and engaged in meaningful work, we’ve been able to maintain stability even in competitive markets.
Rose House. Regional Director, Operations, Illinois of P1 Dental Partners (Indianapolis): At P1, to combat staffing shortages, we focused on proactive pipeline development and internal retention. We partnered with local schools and hygiene programs to build relationships early and create a steady candidate flow. Internally, we strengthened onboarding, mentorship and recognition programs to boost engagement and reduce turnover. Additionally, we cross-trained team members to maintain flexibility and ensure uninterrupted patient care during vacancies. These strategies have helped us maintain stability even during challenging periods.
Geith Kallas, DDS. Dentist and CEO of Smile Makers Dental Center (Tyson’s Corner, Va.): As the CEO and chief dental officer of multiple-location dental practices, with the help of the leadership team we created the Associate Mentorship Program, which focuses on building blocks of the Pyramid of Success. Our program revolves around the dentist’s three key criteria for success: Excellence in dental skills, leadership effectiveness and financial optimization. This program supports associates in achieving success in these critical areas, building a strong foundation for their careers.
We have also implemented competitive compensation and benefits packages, flexible scheduling options, positive work culture, regular feedback and recognition, employee involvement in decision-making, regular feedback loops and data-driven methodology. By implementing these strategies and similar principles programs for all team members , our dental practices can better address staff shortages, improving retention, engagement, and overall performance.
Nick Khalili. CFO of Cornerstone Dental Specialities (Irvine, Calif.): Flexible scheduling, offering PT, remote or even hybrid options to attract a larger pool of candidates. Cross-training employees and training staff to wear multiple hats. Incentive and staff bonuses as well as competitive pay. We also have built our culture where employees feel belonged to, valued and heard. We focus on soft skill and personality fit, we offer in house training for all technical expertise and even clinical when it comes to clinician recruitment.
Joseph Kolligan. Director of Growth of Salt Flats Dentistry (Riverton, Utah): At Salt Flats Dentistry, our strategy to combat staffing shortages starts with a core belief: We hire for potential and develop for excellence. For clinical and front office roles, we’ve leaned heavily into technology to make the employee experience as intuitive and streamlined as possible. By embedding AI into our practice management system, revenue cycle workflows and patient engagement tools, we’re able to lower the learning curve and confidently hire individuals who are newer to dentistry but bring the right attitude and aptitude. This has allowed us to widen our talent pool significantly, especially in competitive markets, while still delivering a seamless patient experience.
On the doctor side, we focus on attracting talent with our advanced comprehensive care model. By investing in technologies like CBCT and CEREC and pairing that with hands-on training and mentorship, we empower doctors to expand their clinical skills in areas like implants, surgery, and full-mouth rehabilitation. We don’t integrate specialists, which is intentional. It ensures our doctors can practice at the top of their license and fully realize the financial and professional benefits of expanding their scope.
Finally, our payer mix is primarily PPO and FFS, which we’ve found to be a key differentiator. It supports our doctors’ earning potential and reinforces a patient-first culture where quality isn’t compromised by production quotas or insurance constraints.
This combination of development-minded hiring, strategic tech implementation, and a clinical model designed around growth and autonomy has helped us not just survive staffing challenges but actually grow through them.
Yahya Mansour, DDS. Co-Founder and Chief Dental Officer of Rodeo Dental & Orthodontics (Forth Worth, Texas): At Rodeo Dental, we’ve implemented several innovative strategies to address industry staffing challenges. These include creating a robust mentorship program to attract and retain talent, offering competitive compensation packages and fostering a positive workplace culture that promotes professional growth and collaboration as well as a career path. Additionally, we leverage technology to streamline operations and enhance efficiency, ensuring our team can focus on delivering exceptional patient care while maintaining the exciting culture we are known for.
Trevor Maurer. CEO of OMS360 (Alpharetta, Ga.): Here are some staffing strategies that we have used at our organization: Conducting regular market analyses to make sure our compensation is staying competitive to the market and adjusting accordingly. Some offices will cross-train their staff to provide additional support during a shortage. This also allows associates to grow within their role and become more valuable. Focusing on new employee onboarding provides new hires with a smooth onboarding process along with them feeling valued on day one and understanding our culture. Certain offices also work with local assisting programs in the area which allows students to shadow in our office creating an easy pathway to hiring. Providing clear development tracks and regular career check-ins. Celebrating milestones and great work. Encouraging certain continuing education courses and potentially covering costs for ongoing education. Talking to current employees to understand what’s keeping them around and just as important, what might drive them away. Invest in management training (people often leave managers, not jobs!). Building a workplace where everyone feels they belong.
Tammeka Nickleberry, DDS. CEO of TLN Family & Cosmetic Dentistry (Houston): The war for talent and the rising staffing issues and shortages have created a difficult terrain in the dental profession. My organization is trimming some redundancy from our systems to decrease the workload. We are also outsourcing as many components as possible such as billing and insurance verification.
Francesca Pregano. COO of Smile Makers Dental Center (Tyson’s Corner, Va.): As COO of Smile Makers Dental Center, I have taken a proactive and values-driven approach to addressing the staffing challenges impacting our industry. One of our key strategies has been the expansion of our remote team, allowing us to recruit top talent beyond geographical limitations. Our remote departments now include the call center, revenue cycle management, insurance verification, finance, clinical chart auditing and compliance. This structure has strengthened our operations while increasing flexibility and efficiency.
We’ve also implemented a robust onboarding program, paired with quarterly performance check-ins that emphasize each team member’s long-term career growth. By aligning expectations early and fostering professional development, we’ve created a strong foundation for retention and engagement.
Most importantly, we make all hiring decisions based on our organization’s core values. We are unwavering in maintaining a healthy and supportive workplace culture. When a doctor or team member does not align with our values, we part ways — no matter their position. While many organizations tolerate problematic behavior to avoid short-term disruption, we’ve found that standing by our ethical standards has strengthened our culture, built trust among team members, and deepened our patient relationships. The investment in finding the right people always outweighs the cost of retaining the wrong ones.
Sundeep Rawal, DMD. Senior Vice President, Implant Support Services of Aspen Dental (Chicago): Recruiting great doctors and hygienists is, of course, a top priority, but we also recognize the importance of retaining the talent we have by creating an environment where doctors feel supported and set up for success. From the moment a doctor joins Aspen Dental, they go through the comprehensive Doctor Learning Journey, which provides a combination of in-person learning, mentorship and peer networking to familiarize them with Aspen Dental’s model, processes, and build their confidence as a clinician.
We want doctors to stay with us for the duration of their careers, so we work hard to understand what their individual goals are and how we can support them, whether they simply want to grow their skills or get on the path to practice ownership. Through year-round training opportunities at TAG University and the TAG Oral Care Center of Excellence, doctors learn new skills that will benefit their patients right away with the latest techniques and technologies, while also building a social and support network to keep them feeling engaged and excited about growing their career at Aspen.
Ronald Saffar, DDS. CEO and President of My Orthodontist (Lawrence Township, N.J.): As we do not have a severe staffing issue and/or shortages I attribute it to our culture at My Orthodontist, which is almost like a family for some employees as they have been working with each other and sharing the same values for such a long time. Our competitive pay and bonus structure as well as sharing in a vision of being part of something bigger and our mission to improve the lives of the communities which we serve in and provide excellent career opportunities at different levels.
Stef Simich. Director, People Development of Lone Peak Dental Group (Denver): Honestly, retention starts way before someone decides to quit — it starts with how they’re brought in. That’s why we’ve leaned into onboarding as a way to combat staffing challenges, especially for the office manager role. We ditched the “drink from a firehose” training model and instead built a hybrid onboarding experience rooted in what I call Change Experience, creating the right experiences at the right time to actually support people through the learning curve. So instead of dumping all the info in the first five days, we pace it out. HR and payroll training hits in week one, because that’s when they need it. But things like purchasing or marketing tools don’t come in until week four, when they’ve got their footing.
What makes it work is the structure, they get online modules and real-time department-led workshops that match where they are in their onboarding journey. It keeps them from feeling overwhelmed, and it actually sets them up to win instead of just survive. When people feel successful early on, they’re way more likely to stay. It’s not just onboarding, it’s an experience that shows them we’re invested in their growth from day one.
Mariz Tanious, DDS. Chief Dental Officer of Affinity Dental Management (Holyoke, Mass.): To manage workforce shortages, we have implemented several strategic solutions. One key approach has been cross-training employees, allowing them to take on additional responsibilities and adapt to different roles as needed. We have also shared employees across offices to optimize resource utilization and ensure continuity of work flows. Additionally, we have leveraged temp agencies to fill temporary gaps, providing flexibility and support during peak periods or when permanent staff are unavailable. This approach has helped maintain operational efficiency despite the challenges posed by staffing shortages.
Jeffrey Tomcsik. CEO of Grand Dental Group (Aurora, Ill.): We are very thankful to not have systemic shortages of employees throughout our practices. That said, it is more difficult to find reliable individuals with a good work ethic at an affordable rate compared to five plus years ago. To help reduce human resource shortages without increasing search costs associated with sites like Indeed, we have implemented a few strategies. We contracted a recruiter who finds vetted candidates for us across all fields from doctors and hygienists to assistants and front desk staff, reducing costs to third party sites significantly. We also tightened our processes and training program with the help of a learning management system called Dentlogics. They help get our team trained quickly and effectively so that we need fewer individuals but at a higher caliber. We have also implemented accountability strategies to make sure all tasks are completed effectively. Finally, we have also engaged AI assistance for rote tasks to lessen the workload on our staff. These strategies paired with a competitive benefits package and a good work culture have kept us in a healthy place regarding human resources.
Jackson Tralongo. President of T Management (Atlanta): With our organization, addressing staffing challenges has never been just about filling roles, it’s about creating an environment where people genuinely want to grow and develop long-term. We’ve focused on building and nurturing a strong internal culture that values relationships, communication, and mutual respect that all human beings should reflect towards one another. From leadership to front desk, we ensure everyone feels supported, heard and appreciated. This has created a sense of belonging that naturally leads to higher retention. This starts from valuing the little things (birthday’s, work anniversaries, etc.) to everyone referring to us as a family on a constant basis. A deep culture isn’t built in a day but you can slowly erode it over time without truly building something everyone is vested in.
On the recruitment side, we’ve leaned into grassroots efforts by forming strong partnerships with local dental hygiene and assisting schools. We offer yearly awarded scholarships, internships and early career mentorship programs that help identify passionate professionals early on and give them a reason to choose us as their long-term home. These relationships have been instrumental in building a reliable pipeline of skilled, enthusiastic talent. This takes constant communication and investment into these local schools but it is something we have found to be so rewarding in the long run.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve differentiated ourselves from other DSOs by reimagining what a dental office can look like. We provide more autonomy, prioritize a healthy work-life balance and make sure our team members feel like family members, not just employees. Our goal has always been to be the kind of place where we would want our family members to want to work, and that commitment continues to guide our strategy and long-term vision.
