Dental practice owners across the country are facing a critical challenge: how to continue growing when hygienists seem impossible to find. This shortage creates a frustrating bottleneck - you've got the new patients flowing in, your clinical skills are sharp, your systems are solid, but without adequate hygiene capacity, your practice hits a growth ceiling that feels impenetrable.

The mathematics behind this problem are straightforward but concerning. A full-time hygienist seeing seven patients daily for four days weekly can accommodate 672 patients on a six-month recall schedule. For practices bringing in 80-100 new patients monthly with strong reappointment rates, a single hygienist reaches capacity within just eight months. This reality forces practice owners to make difficult decisions about resource allocation.

Beyond simply raising compensation to attract scarce hygiene talent (though that may be necessary), savvy practice owners are deploying creative solutions: becoming more selective about recalls and building robust ASAP lists; extending recall intervals beyond the traditional six months for appropriate patients; restructuring patient flow to route new patients directly through doctor exams with same-day dentistry opportunities; and implementing assisted hygiene models to increase capacity. Each approach has merits and challenges, but combining these strategies can help practices continue growing despite staffing limitations.

Remember that transparency with patients about industry-wide staffing challenges helps manage expectations, and consider that new patients often represent a population with greater immediate treatment needs than established patients who already receive regular care. By implementing these five practical solutions, you can continue growing your practice, serving your community effectively, and maintaining the profitability that supports your ideal lifestyle.

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