‘You can’t out-recruit a retention problem’: Inside dentistry’s labor crisis
By Cameron Cortigiano
Originally at beckersdental.com
Summary & scoring by The Bell Brief (Dr. Jennifer Bell) using the Drill-Down Protocol (Drill-Down Score) — not the original publisher.
Why it matters for dental
Dentistry’s post-COVID staffing shortage has become a retention crisis that hits every revenue-generating chair hour; owners, DSOs, and multi-site practices must shift budget from recruitment to retention or face ongoing production loss and patient attrition.
Key points
- Hygienists who exited after 2020 largely did not return, triggering downstream shortages of assistants and front-office staff.
- Geith Kallas, DDS (Smile Makers Dental Center, Tysons Corner, Va.) frames the problem as systemic rather than local, stating recruitment spending cannot overcome poor retention.
- The article is published by Becker’s Dental Review, a source focused on DSO and dental-practice economics.
- Labor shortfalls directly affect schedule density, procedure volume, and patient-experience metrics across general and specialty practices.
Who should care
Read the original on Becker's Dental + DSO Review
Full reporting and any paywall content live on beckersdental.com. We summarize and score; we do not republish.
Related
- ·Regulatory
B.C. regulator warns Vancouver man offered illegal dental services in residential building
- ·Regulatory
New York City dental practices named in deceptive treatment financing lawsuit
- ·Regulatory
Texas DSO hit with cyberattack affecting 30,000 individuals
- ·Business
U.S. dental M&A begins to rebound as practice consolidation advances