Changing the Narrative on Washington's "Dental Hygiene Shortage": How Sharing the Sentinel Workforce Survey May Help More Than You Think!

Washington’s Health Workforce Sentinel Network is a tool to understand employers’ workforce needs – such as challenges related to recruitment, retention and needed skills – and make that information available to educators and policy makers.

The Health Workforce Sentinel Network supports efficient and effective health workforce preparation and deployment by:

• Identifying the skills needed and local conditions that may make hiring difficult

• Providing information about the “how and why” behind workforce demand signals

• Engaging the full network of stakeholders needed to identify and solve workforce problems

Health workforce employer Sentinels can:

• Communicate their health workforce needs to decision makers

• Compare their organization’s experiences and emerging workforce demand trends with similar employer groups.

• Have access to current and actionable information about emerging workforce needs

• Help to ensure that the state’s health workforce is prepared to respond to the transforming health care environment

How many of you are aware of 2025's Sentinel Workforce findings? We would like to share a snippet of the summary for Dentistry:

• "I have been trying to find a full-time hygienist for my office in [my city] for the past 2 years now. Unable to find anyone who can fulfill this position. Would help if we can get foreign trained dentists to cover the huge demand for hygienists"

• "Severe hygiene shortage due to lack of Dental Hygiene School and very short average career for hygienists (7 years). Many hygienists work part time with reduced hours. Solutions include opening more hygiene schools, allowing expanded scope for current dental assistants […]"

• "Hygienist move to other practices that pay more then their current one. This increases the cost of preventive dental care for the public. Increasing number of hygienists will decrease the number of practice hopping hygienists. Supply and demand."

You may click on the photo above to navigate to the full Dental Offices/Clinics findings to read for yourself. Do you agree with the sentiments expressed in last year's findings that were published for our policymakers to see? We are asking our advocates who are employed by doctors that understand and respect us as highly trained and educated healthcare providers to please encourage your employers to complete this year's sentinel workforce survey.

It is very important that we help policymakers, educators, and the public understand that removing education requirements will not address the growing public oral health problem and have this survey reflect the REAL reasons behind extended vacancies in dental offices. Thank you for being an advocate and doing your part to help us safeguard the integrity of our profession!

Your employer(s) can click on the following link or scan the QR code below to navigate to this year's survey:

Survey Link: https://redcap.iths.org/surveys/?s=A8NTJW7YLYLWW7ML