- HIGH
- Business
- Tier 1
- Hard News
Dentistry’s workforce paradox: More graduates but a deeper shortage?
- Source
- Becker's Dental + DSO Review
- Author
- Cameron Cortigiano
- Originally at
- beckersdental.com(opens in a new tab)
Summary and scoring by The Bell Brief (Dr. Jennifer Bell) using the Drill-Down Protocol. Not the original publisher.
Why it matters for dental
Dental practices face sustained hygienist and assistant vacancies despite record hygiene graduations, pushing owners and DSOs to adopt internal training and equity programs to retain staff.
Key points
- 01
ADA data show U.S. dental hygiene programs graduated 7,447 people in 2025, the highest number in at least a decade.
- 02
One-third of dentists were actively recruiting hygienists in the third quarter of 2026, and more than one in five of those positions remained open for over six months, according to the ADA.
- 03
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 8% growth in dental hygienist jobs and 7% growth in dental assistant jobs from 2025 to 2035, equating to roughly 15,000 and 53,000 annual openings respectively.
- 04
Practice leaders at Becker’s 5th Annual Future of Dentistry Roundtable describe internal training pipelines and equity grants for associate dentists and office managers as the main response to the staffing gap.
Who should care
- Owner
- DSO
Read the original
Becker's Dental + DSO Review
Full reporting and any paywalled content live on beckersdental.com. We summarize and score; we do not republish.