Pros & Cons of Working with a Dental Staffing Agency

If you’ve felt the pain of being short-staffed in your dental practice, you’re not alone. The industry has faced staffing shortages for years, particularly in areas such as assistants and hygienists. Agencies promise a quick fix: talent delivered to your door. But like most quick fixes, there are tradeoffs.

Before you decide if a dental staffing agency is the right solution, it’s worth weighing both the advantages and the drawbacks. The goal isn’t to scare you off or sell you on it, but to provide you with clarity so you can make an informed choice.

Why is Staffing Is a Critical Issue in Dentistry?

Let’s be honest: a practice without the right team cannot thrive. Turnover among dental assistants and hygienists is high, and the cost of replacing them isn’t just financial; it’s emotional, cultural, and operational.

Every gap in the schedule means lost revenue and added stress. Patients feel the strain when their experience is rushed or inconsistent. For practice owners, the recruiting process often diverts valuable hours away from patient care.

Post-pandemic workforce challenges only added fuel to this fire. Finding and keeping great people is harder than ever, which makes staffing decisions all the more critical.

How Dental Staffing Agencies Work

At their core, dental staffing agencies are matchmakers. They maintain a pipeline of candidates, temporary, temp-to-perm, or permanent, and connect them to practices in need.

Here’s what they typically offer:

• Sourcing and vetting candidates.
• Handling paperwork, background checks, and placement details.
• Speed and convenience when you need someone in the chair now.

In exchange, practices pay agency fees. Some agencies focus exclusively on dental roles, while others cover multiple healthcare specialties.

4 Pros of Using a Dental Staffing Agency

There’s a reason these agencies exist: they solve urgent problems quickly. For many practices, the pros are compelling:

1. Speed matters. An empty operatory is expensive. Agencies often reduce downtime by delivering candidates quickly.
2. Access to pre-screened talent. Because agencies handle vetting, you save time sifting through resumes and interviews.
3. Flexibility. Whether you need short-term coverage, want to ‘test drive’ a candidate before making a permanent hire, or require a long-term placement, agencies offer various options.
4. Reduced administrative burden. Many practice owners don’t have the bandwidth (or HR support) to run an effective recruiting process. Agencies take that off your plate.

When the alternative is losing revenue or burning out your existing staff, these benefits can make an agency partnership feel like a lifeline.

4 Cons of Using a Dental Staffing Agency

But it’s not all upside. Before you sign the contract, you need to consider the tradeoffs:

1. Cost. Agencies are almost always more expensive than hiring directly. That premium covers convenience, but the costs add up quickly.
2. Cultural fit. A candidate who appears well-suited on paper may not align with your practice’s values or patient care philosophy. Agencies can’t always account for that nuance.
3. Loyalty questions. Sometimes, staff loyalty leans more toward the agency than your practice. That can affect morale and retention.
4. Limited control. You may not have as much say in who’s in the pipeline, which means you’re trusting the agency’s process more than your own.

For practices that value tight-knit culture and long-term stability, these drawbacks can feel significant.

What Are the Alternatives to Staffing Agencies?

Agencies are one option, but they’re not the only option. Practices can also:

1. Develop internal hiring systems that streamline the recruitment process.
2. Invest in retention to reduce churn, thereby reducing the need for replacements.
3. Leverage local networks and dental schools to source fresh talent.
4. Utilize technology platforms to connect directly with candidates, eliminating the need for intermediaries.

These approaches take more time upfront but often pay off in stronger, more loyal teams.

When Does a Staffing Agency Make Sense?

There are moments when an agency isn’t just helpful, it’s the best move. For example:

• You need emergency coverage for a sudden vacancy.
• Your practice lacks HR capacity and can’t run a recruiting process in-house.
• You’re expanding quickly and need multiple hires at once.
• You need a short-term stopgap while building better systems for the long term.

The key is to use agencies strategically, not as a default.

Schedule Your Free Consultation with Ken Today for Professional Help Hiring the Right Personnel

Working with a dental staffing agency comes with both pros and cons. They can be a lifesaver when you’re in crisis mode, but they’re not a cure-all. The real win for practice owners comes from building systems that reduce turnover, strengthen culture, and make hiring sustainable.

If you’re tired of being reactive and want to design a smarter, more reliable way to attract and keep the right people, coaching can help. Together, we’ll create a system that works long after the agency contract ends.

👉 Schedule a free consultation with me to strengthen your hiring systems and start building the kind of team that makes your practice thrive.