14 July 2026

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Smile, you’re in demand: Dental hygienists find a friendly job market but limited benefits

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The 30 newest graduates of Texas A&M College of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program earned both their dental hygiene pins and diplomas last month.

Community impact

Among dentists who were actively recruiting or had recently recruited dental hygienists in the last three months, more than 90% deemed hiring them very or extremely challenging, the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute shared in the same first-quarter report. That’s fairly consistent with past quarterly reports, despite a record 7,882 dental hygiene graduates last year.

However, many dental hygienists and the American Dental Hygienists’ Association counter that it’s a retention crisis. Their stance: Improve workplaces, and dental hygienists will want to stay. Responsive compensation, competitive benefits, positive workplace cultures, and professional autonomy are among some of the proposed solutions.

Whichever side of the hiring debate one lands, 2026 A&M Dentistry grad Maahin Syed is already a winner. She’s celebrating an offer from Alsbury Dental in Burleson.

Why it matters

“I started applying on Indeed in April after completing all my boards and, honestly, (I) heard a reply from them within a week,” Syed said. “(Other) places I applied to actually reached back out to me, but they weren’t piquing my interest.”

She applied to roughly 15 positions and received positive responses from about half of them. After one Zoom interview, another via Teams and an in-person meeting, Syed received Alsbury’s offer within two weeks and now works there as a dental assistant while awaiting licensure.

She’s Austin-bound next week. There, Syed, many of her classmates and other new dental hygiene grads from across Texas will voluntarily gather before sunrise Monday, documents in hand, at the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners ’ office to earn and process their state licenses on the spot – the last hurdle before starting their careers. Nicknamed Dental Hygiene Expo , it’s become a festive event over the years; not to be outdone, the state’s newest dentists will do the same on Tuesday at Dental Expo.

Texas Dental Hygienists’ Association members will attend as well, cheering on the new licensees and offering water, prizes and, if asked, advice. More than 300 new dental hygienists attended last year, said Connie Groves, TDHA’s student affairs director and a dental hygienist.

Academic context

“They need to know the business side of hygiene…,” she said. “You have to work with the dentists.”

That includes understanding that the profession is fighting for benefits that other professionals view as standard.

In a recent salary survey, online and mobile job board DentalPost found 70% of dental hygienists received paid vacation time, 67% enjoyed paid holiday time and 62% had dental coverage. Among the most desired missing benefits were medical coverage, paid continuing education, retirement and paid sick leave.

A&M Dentistry’s dental hygiene graduates earn bachelor’s degrees in a profession where associate degrees are the standard. The dental hygiene program in Dallas celebrated its 70 th anniversary in 2025.

“Many, if not most, of our graduates work in Texas for at least the early years of their careers,” said Maureen Brown, clinical assistant professor and interim executive director of the dental hygiene program. “North Texas and Austin are often popular choices.”

“Earning a bachelor’s degree allows our graduates to expand their horizons beyond clinical practice into leadership and education, while also giving them the flexibility to adjust and succeed in today’s shifting economic environment,” she said.

Bachelor’s degrees in dental hygiene may not translate to better jobs in the early years, but they do bolster new graduates’ confidence and preparedness. Salary.com reported in early June that entry-level dental hygienists’ salaries in Dallas spanned from $62,400 to $87,317; the average for an entry-level dental hygienist was $72,226.

Dental hygienists averaged $98,990 nationwide in 2025, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . That’s up from $78,050 in 2020.

Syed sought a full-time schedule working four days per week and two Fridays each month. So did Marie Seykora , class valedictorian, who starts early next month at Richardson Dentistry in Richardson, where she will work four days per week.

Kelly Romans, president and owner of Hurst-based staffing agency Dental Directions , part of Texas Dental Placement Network , sees the push and pull every day. The agency has 40-plus dental hygienists on assignments daily in North Texas and Abilene-San Angelo and 20 available permanent positions.

Seven to 10 new A&M Dentistry dental hygiene graduates applied for temporary placements.

“The day after they get their licenses, we send them out into dental offices as soon as we can…,” Romans said. “A lot of times, (they are) offices that are looking for somebody on a permanent basis.”

Most positions at Dental Directions are temporary with the option of permanent employment over time. Each placement pays between $48 and $52 per hour during the temp period.

“I always recommend that they work in an office for at least a week, if not two, before they take a position just to make sure that it’s going to be a right fit for them,” said Romans, who has placed 10 dental hygienists in permanent positions in the last three months. “Everybody is really nice the first couple of days, then, after you are there for a couple of weeks, you see how the dynamics in the office work.”

She also urged dental hygienists to review both the instruments provided and how patients are scheduled. Consider the dentists’ ethics and how they, as dental hygienists, will work within their teams.

“Sometimes dental hygiene rooms aren’t very good for a left-handed person (because of how the rooms are built),” she said. “So, they need to make sure that they can work in the room.”

Additional bite: There are 222,740 dental hygienists in the U.S., according to new information released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics .

Romans meets with A&M Dentistry students during the semesters to provide career advice and conduct mock interviews. Her agency, which also provides dentists, dental assistants and administrative staff, has nearly 200 dental hygienists on the roster; some choose to work only one or two days per week, and others work during vacations, weekends or other short periods. About 15 to 20 hygienists have worked as temps for the entire 26 years Romans has owned Dental Directions.

New graduates tend to work with the agency for about a year before finding full-time jobs. Many find they like temping and continue to seek short-term assignments.

Dr. John C. Bonds, owner of private practice River Bend Dental of Plano , has a part-time opening for a dental hygienist interested in working Mondays and Tuesdays. He has a hygienist opening about once a year, usually because an employee faces health problems or family issues.

Bonds described the searches as more difficult but manageable. He said, it used to take one to two months to hire a hygienist; now it takes three or four.

“I’ve hired a couple of hygienists who I really liked from temping sites, but they still only want to work for me on a temp basis as W-2 employees,” he said. “I personally haven’t met many hygienists working as temps who are looking for part-time or full-time jobs.”

Bonds, Class of 2016, then known as Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry, welcomes new graduates. He likes to teach.

“My opinion is, I’d rather hire someone who has a great attitude and is a good fit for the office,” Bonds said. “Experience can be nice, but it can also be a detriment, and old habits die hard.”

Elizabeth Rodriguez is open to all possibilities and plans to use apps from Cloud Dentistry and Teero. She entered the dental hygiene program after earning an associate degree at Tarrant County College in 2023 and will work as a temp until she finds a full-time position.

“I’ve just grown. My passion for it has grown even more…,” she said. “It’s been hard trying to balance everything because I commute(d) from Fort Worth… I love it. I’m excited to see what the future has.”

Rodriguez would like to work in a general private practice. Working full-time and occasionally taking on short-term temp assignments would be ideal.

Kaylee Lindell, who earned a bachelor’s in dental hygiene after earning a bachelor’s in allied health at Texas A&M University, plans to temp in Dallas-Fort Worth via Cloud. It’s bittersweet.

Lindell found what she thought was a good job scheduled to start July 6 in Frisco. However, she returned from a two-week vacation in Greece to learn that the hygienist who left had returned.

“(It) left me without a job, without a plan and without the $600 deposit I put down for an apartment,” Lindell said.

Temping isn’t for everyone, said Syed, who has worked as a dental assistant for nearly six years and has a bachelor’s in biology from The University of Texas at Arlington. But it does offer insight.

“Temping as an assistant for three years taught me the realities of office dynamics,” she said. “Private practice is very family-like, especially when the doctor is receptive and kind, with the downside being no benefits. Corporate is fast-paced, but it offers more than a private practice can.”

Her new employer was a private practice bought by dental support organization Dental Care Alliance , which Syed termed “the best of both worlds.”

“Also, really look at the office and where you’d be working,” she said. “A weird deal breaker I had was no windows. I cannot work in an operatory that does not have any windows. I need that natural light.”

DentalPost’s survey found that 73% of dental hygienists work in private practices and 11% work in corporate practices.

New graduate Emily Pina sought a permanent position on her own and interviewed at four dental offices near her home in Terrell. Two she rejected early because they were corporate operations, and another she didn’t like the atmosphere. Pina is in talks with a private practice in Royse City that would allow her to work three days a week in the first year and four days a week thereafter; Pina, who earned an associate degree from Trinity Valley Community College, will know more after she’s licensed.

“My son is 2, and I really need to pay attention to him right now,” she said. “He’s the priority.”

Meanwhile, classmate Alyssa Mann will indulge her wanderlust in August by moving to Tampa, Florida, with a friend.

She considered traveling on a multi-month assignment in Washington, near Seattle, with Team Placement , working in various dental offices and government agencies. However, when fellow classmates opted not to join her, Mann, who also has a bachelor’s degree in general studies from Texas Tech University, decided to temp in Dallas-Fort Worth via Dental Directions for a few weeks, then with Cloud on a restricted Florida dental hygiene license until she completes more education; dental hygienists in Florida are allowed to perform some procedures not allowed by their counterparts in Texas.

“Nothing is permanent; so, if I absolutely hate it in Florida, I can figure something else out,” Mann said. “That’s the beauty of having a hygiene license. Yes, it’s a little difficult to go state to state because of our licensing process, but it’s not the end of the world.”

The outlook for dental hygienists may seem rosy, but conditions change – sometimes quickly. Dentists face both declining insurance reimbursements and lower revenues, the ADA Health Policy Institute reported. Prices for dental equipment and supplies increased 6% between February 2025 and the same time this year.

“Some of my friends in private practice are saying dentists are now offering lower hourly rates compared with a year ago…” Brown said. “While this reflects what I am hearing from dental hygienists in Dallas, it may not capture conditions in other parts of the Metroplex or in rural communities. The lower rates in some areas could be influenced by the concentration of hygienists in urban settings, where many choose to practice.”

Veterans warn those entering the profession to focus less on high salaries and more on long-term goals. For all its positives, dental hygiene is known for physical wear, few benefits and perks and early burnout. DentalPost’s survey found nearly three in 10 hygienists plan to retire within the next five years.

Research and ask questions. In dentistry, it’s important to have connections, said Laurinda “Laurie” Morgan Inglis , Class of 2002 of then-Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry. Inglis served on the dental college’s Alumni Association Board and was the first dental hygiene grad to serve as its president. She’s also a past president of Dallas Dental Hygienists’ Association and was a dental assistant for nine years in Jasper and Carrollton.

If that doesn’t connect her enough, Inglis also works three days a week at private practice Parker West Dental Associates in Plano, where she’s worked for 16 years. In addition, Inglis is a myofunctional therapist and owner of Collin County Myofunctional Therapy , collaborating with orthodontists and lecturing to A&M Dentistry’s dental hygiene students.

“When you have a turnover of dentists, I think you are going to have a turnover of staff,” she said.

Most of her classmates remain in the profession, and many work in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Additional bite: 88% of dental hygienists work in general dentistry, according to DentalPost’s latest survey.

Romans said corporate-owned offices tend to offer better salaries and benefits, but they may also require hygienists to work faster and meet specific goals and quotas. Her agency’s clients include private practices and practices affiliated with MB2 , Apex Dental Partners , Star Dental Partners and Heartland Dental ; Dental Directions also works with some Monarch Dental offices.

“(For a hygienist) to be successful, I feel like they have to have an hour per patient,” she said. “You can’t clean 32 teeth in 30 minutes.”

Dr. Brad Crump , founder of BC Perio in Dallas, who is now partnered with Specialized Dental Partners , offers medical, vision and dental benefits to full-time employees. Crump, Class of 1997 of then-Baylor College of Dentistry, also offers 401(k), paid time off and paid holidays.

Dr. Crump’s practice has minimal staff turnover, hiring a hygienist about every five to seven years, which Crump, clinical faculty in periodontics, attributes to his strong name recognition in the Dallas dental community and the quality of his practice. He seeks experienced dental hygienists given his patients’ compromised conditions, and Crump relies heavily on word-of-mouth from his referring doctors and his employees for hiring recommendations.

Bonds offers paid time off, sick leave, medical insurance, a continuing education and uniform allowance, and discounted dental work for employees and their immediate family members.

“I don’t offer bonuses for production because I feel like that incentivizes overdiagnosis and shifts the focus from patient care to financial gain,” he said.

Dental hygienists are, first and foremost, drawn to the profession by a commitment to helping people, Brown said. Their focus is on preventing disease and promoting whole-body health, not typically on weighing benefit packages and workplace incentives.

“New students entering the profession have an opportunity, not only to adapt – by being flexible in practice settings, embracing emerging technologies and advocating for the value they bring – but also to play a critical role in helping to address the national shortage of dental hygienists and expand access to care,” she said.

Passing the drill: Baby boomer dentists bid goodbye, allowing young dentists’ smiles in the spotlight – Insights

Source: https://insights.dentistry.tamu.edu/smile-youre-in-demand-dental-hygienists-find-a-friendly-job-market-but-limited-benefits