Staffing shortages have plagued the dental industry, creating an ongoing problem for dental practices and DSOs.
The continuing issue of workforce gaps has some in the industry, including Catrise Austin, DDS, owner of a practice in New York City, worried that continued staffing problems could lead to a decrease in the quality of care.
"I'm increasingly concerned about the current state of the workforce and employment," Dr. Austin said. "The shortage of qualified dental assistants, hygienists and administrative staff has put pressure on practices, potentially impacting the quality of care patients receive. I'm deeply concerned that if we don't address these issues proactively, we may see a decline in the quality of care and patient satisfaction across the industry."
The recruitment of dental hygienists and dental assistants has been the most pressing staffing issue in dentistry, but it has not seen much improvement.
In a January 2022 poll from the American Dental Association, 73.4% of respondents said that it was "extremely challenging" to recruit dental hygienists and 55.4% said the same for dental assistants. In the same survey from the third quarter of 2024, 76.8% said it was extremely challenging to recruit dental assistants and 43.6% of respondents said the same for assistants.
According to Manny Chopra, DMD, a dentist in Cincinnati, the industry will most likely continue to face these staffing challenges until it can increase the size of the workforce through education programs.
"The U.S. won't resolve its dental workforce shortage until it implements a comprehensive strategy to increase the number of allied dental professionals," Dr. Chopra said. "The ADA has information that can be used by all state dental associations on raising awareness about the dental profession to school age students. This then becomes a grassroots effort to show the value of a career in dentistry."
Fortunately for dentistry, almost every state has had a decrease in the number of dental professional shortage areas compared to last year. Unfortunately, the U.S. is still in need of more than 10,000 dental professionals in order to fill those areas.
Staffing solutions can be viewed from two lenses: at the individual practice level and at the entire professional level, according to John Vaselaney, DDS, of a dental consulting firm.
"Dentists and dental organizations need to advocate for and support the creation of additional training programs for clinical staff, as well as the expansion of class sizes in existing training programs," Dr. Vaselaney said. "Going forward, dentists and organized dentistry need to be more involved in supporting this growth."