Sheela Roth, director of practice development at Pearl and a dental hygienist, spoke with Becker's Jan. 24 to discuss why dental practices struggle to retain hygienists and what they can do to keep them.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: Why do you think practices are having issues with recruiting and retaining dental hygienists?
Sheela Roth: Well, I believe we're still recovering from the major exit during COVID-19. Quite frankly, we've seen so many hygienists leave and never return, mainly because of concerns with childcare for a lot of them, as well as those that had decided to just retire, not wanting to return. So I think we're still recovering a little bit from that market. Although I do see it bouncing back.
In terms of recruiting them, I think it's important for us to be mindful of finding out how the market has changed. In my last job, I was in charge of recruiting and training the hygiene team. We had over 22 hygienists when I left. It was really about flexibility. What shifts do you have? Hygienists work on a shift mentality. That is the beginning of the conversation. Is there flexibility to accommodate their schedule? Is there flexibility in shifts? Do they have early or late shifts? Can they go to school or take their kids to school? Can they work late in the evening? So I think flexibility and being able to provide an environment where they can take very good care of their patients, and being able to know that we provide the support, the training, the resources they may need, the instruments all the way down to how much time they get to be with their patients.
What I've learned is to provide flexibility, find out the needs of the hygienist, and then be able to make sure the alignment of the way the hygienist is practicing and the way the practice is run is working well, both clinically and ethically.