- HIGH
- Business
- Tier 1
- Hard News
The shifting dental assisting landscape
- Source
- Becker's Dental + DSO Review
- Author
- Ariana Portalatin
- 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 practice owners and DSOs face ongoing hiring pressure as the dental assistant workforce shows declining job satisfaction, reduced program enrollment, and turnover risk.
Key points
- 01
Dental Assisting National Board’s 2026 Dental Assistant Hiring and Retention Report finds only about 50% of dental assistants satisfied with their jobs and one in three unsure how long they will stay.
- 02
Certified dental assistants show 86% one-year retention versus 70% for non-certified dental assistants.
- 03
ADA data show a 5.2% drop in dental assisting program enrollment since 2021.
- 04
Seventeen states enacted or implemented changes to dental assistant requirements between April and July 2026.
Who should care
- Owner
- DSO
- Staff
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.