As the U.S. continues to deal with ongoing workforce shortages, practice owners and executives are looking for ways to attract and retain more hygienists.
Five leaders recently spoke with Becker’s to discuss how hygienist shortages are affecting their businesses and what they think the best solutions are to this challenge.
Editor’s note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How is the hygienist shortage currently affecting your business? Overall, what do you think is needed to finally solve the hygienist shortage in the U.S.?
John Bell. CFO at Fireside Dental Co.: The hygienist shortage is putting tremendous pressure on dental practices, and it’s projected to continue to get worse over the next 10 years. From my perspective, an effective solution requires addressing both the supply and demand for hygienists. To increase the supply of hygienists, a coordinated marketing campaign to promote the hygienist career path to high school and college students could be very impactful to raise awareness and promote the opportunity to young people. To impact the demand side, the industry will need to embrace impactful AI workflow optimization tools that reduce the cognitive load and staff time required to do non-clinical tasks. There’s no magic bullet, but challenges create opportunities to improve.
Source: What will finally solve the hygienist shortage? 5 leaders weigh in / Becker’s Dental