Recruiting dental team members—such as dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental office managers and dental laboratory technicians—was a challenge for practice owners before the COVID-19 pandemic and it continues to be a challenge for owners today.
Recent surveys by the American Dental Association (ADA) reveal that workforce issues were a pain point experienced by dentists in many states. In the February 2022 ADA Health Policy Institute (HPI) Economic Outlook and Emerging Issues in Dentistry poll (PDF), of all the dentists that were surveyed, more than 4 out of 10 have recently or are currently recruiting dental assistants, and 35% have recently recruited or are trying to recruit dental hygienists. Over 90% of dentists recruiting dental hygienists indicated that it has been “extremely” or “very” challenging, and nearly 90% indicated the same for recruiting dental assistants.
A perceived lack of awareness of the many dental profession career options as well as the impression that the dental assisting field offered limited opportunities for career growth are among the contributing factors to this reported challenge.
The ADA has heard from our members about this challenge. In an effort to raise awareness of the various allied dental-related employment opportunities, the ADA has created two different recruitment flyers.
- Dental assistants and dental hygienists
- Dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental office managers and dental laboratory technicians
The two flyers aim to recruit qualified people into dental team careers and may be used in several ways. Practice owners can post these flyers in their dental offices, use them if invited to present at a local career day or offer them for distribution at job fairs or other community events.
To add customized practice information, ADA members can download the Member Exclusive flyers.
