How Big is the Dental Hygiene Shortage?
Dr. Hans Guter, DDS, FAGD, (pictured left) recently spoke to a large gathering of practice owners at the Feb. 28th Dental Practice Owners Summit on the campus of OSU in Columbus, OH, on the subject of the U.S.’s dental hygiene staffing shortage. The Summit was sponsored by Practice Endeavors, LLC and Bank of America.
How big is the problem?
It’s big. According to the ADA’s Health Policy Institute’s 2024 Q4 report, 62.2% of practice owners surveyed consider staffing shortages a big challenge, and a whopping 90.1% of owners recruiting in the last 3 months report that recruiting dental hygienists has been either challenging or extremely challenging.
Are dental hygiene graduate numbers sufficient?
In the 2022 ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation (CDA) report, only 6,857 hygienists graduated nationally compared to 6,745 dentists. The insufficient number of dental hygiene graduates is causing access to care problems for existing patients and for new patients who cannot find their way onto already full hygiene schedules.
Is there a shortage of qualified dental hygiene applicants?
No. Due to enrollment limitations, a significant number of students who completed all pre-requisites and qualified to enter dental hygiene programs were turned away in 2022. In fact, the percentage of hygiene program graduates made up only 15.8% of the 43,424 dental hygiene program applications received in 2022.
What are the answers to this seemingly impossible situation?
Find out in our next blog, “Solving the Dental Hygienists Shortage”.
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J. Robert “Bob” Brooks, CEPA, CBI
J. Robert “Bob” Brooks, CEPA, CBI, leads Practice Endeavors, an Ohio-based practice brokerage and dental realty company. His company provides practice owners with the tools they need to prepare well for life after practice ownership and to find the best price/best fit buyers for their seller clients. Bob was integral in starting the first of its kind dental practice broker credentialing for the International Business Brokers Association.