Dental practices are still having trouble hiring dental hygienists and assistants, with 33.7 percent of practices actively recruiting the positions, according to a poll from the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute.
The institute surveyed 1,053 dentists during the week of March 13 as part of its monthly "Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry.
Here is the difficulty level dental practices have faced recruiting the two positions:
Dental hygienists:
Extremely challenging: 80.5 percent
Very challenging: 15.5 percent
Dental assistants:
Extremely challenging: 54.4 percent
Very challenging: 31.7 percent