24 January 2025

---

School of Dentistry alum brings dental staffing company to Seattle

---

UW School of Dentistry alumnus Dr. Chris Lewandowski (‘97) came across a recurring problem at his practice in the early 2000s – a lack of dependability from temporary staffing agencies. Taking matters into his own hands, Dr. Lewandowski was able to streamline the connection of employers to dental professionals in the Phoenix area using app-based technology and has since expanded his company, Princess Dental Staffing, into 17 additional markets, including Seattle.

Princess’ model uses an online application paired with a specialized search engine to pool candidates for employers to review and hire. The website assists dental offices with hiring both full-time and temporary dental professionals – commonly referred to as “temps”. Their technology allows dentists to be confident their candidate is properly qualified, dependable and will arrive on time.

In today’s modern age, access to for-hire job sites is common, but that hasn’t always been the case in the dental industry.

“We would call [local temp agencies] and in my head I was imagining they’re using a Rolodex and referring to a map on the wall with pins and phone numbers,” said Dr. Lewandowski on how his office would request temps when he first began his practice. “We might not hear back till about 9 a.m., when maybe our first patient that day was at 8 [a.m.]. There was never any indication of ‘was someone available’ or ‘are they going to come?’”

Dr. Lewandowski knew there must be a better way to connect dental offices with temps, so he decided to try and solve the problem himself. Thus, Princess Dental Staffing was born.

“It’s the name of the street my practice is on,” said Dr. Lewandowski when asked where the name ‘Princess’ came from. “I get that question a lot, and the answer is a little dull.”

Princess’ model invested in the ease of communication through automated text messaging, and prides itself on reliability and transparency. Dr. Lewandowski made sure to showcase the qualifications and professional background of temps for hire to establish a foundation of trust between the two parties.

“We filter out and vet the candidate pool so that employers can use us for reliable help rather than Facebook or TikTok or something where they don’t know who they’re getting or what their history is,” said Dr. Lewandowski. “We have a bit more of a guarantee that people, when using our platform, are going to show up and that they’re going to be good at their job and that you’re going to be happy with them.”

As word of mouth grew for Princess in the Phoenix area, where after a little over five years they had a roughly 80% market share, Dr. Lewandowski started to expand to other large cities across the country. Now, 17 years after its inception, Princess Dental Staffing is live in 17 cities, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Denver and, most recently, New York.

Princess initiated its soft launch in Seattle a year ago. Dr. Lewandowski has been keenly aware of the dental hygienist shortage across the region. “We were spending quite a bit of money recruiting hygienists,” he said. “The day the hygienists became visible on our site, they would instantly get, say, 80 job offers, and have a position within 24 hours. We continue to see that as time goes by.”

Princess Dental excels at connecting dentists and hygienists with opportunities. For dental students and professionals, Princess Dental Staffing can provide graduating students with a route to begin their careers. With their unique subscription-based model, employers can post unlimited job offerings without any extra cost. “People don’t even believe us when we tell them that, they’re like ‘what’s the catch?’”

Dr. Lewandowski recently sold his practice to help grow Princess Dental Staffing full-time. His belief in the business and its ability to help dentistry flourish only grows with each new city they expand to.

“Most people are excited that there’s a company like us who’s embraced technology and made this process – from what used to be a little archaic – into a smooth platform,” said Dr. Lewandowski. “We’re created by dentists for dentists, and I can’t emphasize enough that we’re really trying to help everybody.”

Source: https://dental.washington.edu/