- HIGH
- Clinical
- Tier 1
- Clinical & Visual
Why Dental Hygienists Leave
- Source
- Decisions in Dentistry
- Author
- Afton Pratt, RDH
- Originally at
- decisionsindentistry.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 managers face elevated hygienist turnover and lost productivity when abusive supervision is present; addressing supervisor behavior and leadership practices can reduce exits and restore schedule capacity.
Key points
- 01
Survey of 137 U.S. and Canadian clinical hygienists found 81 percent reported at least some abusive supervision and about one-third experienced it moderately to very often.
- 02
Roughly 32 percent of respondents scored at or above the threshold for serious psychological distress; 40 percent said they often considered leaving their position.
- 03
Abusive supervision was linked to leaving the job about twice as strongly as psychological distress, with earlier research estimating $23.8 billion annual U.S. organizational losses from related absenteeism and turnover.
- 04
The American Dental Association Health Policy Institute reported in 2022 that negative workplace culture was the most common reason dental hygienists leave clinical practice.
Who should care
- Owner
- Staff
Read the original
Decisions in Dentistry
Full reporting and any paywalled content live on decisionsindentistry.com. We summarize and score; we do not republish.