The American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) issued an updated position statement on the dental hygiene workforce shortage, superseding its December 2024 statement, concluding that the profession faces a shortage of workplaces worth staying in rather than a shortage of qualified professionals.
The update draws on three independent bodies of research and calls for practice-level implementation of seven evidence-based priorities:
- Responsive compensation
- Competitive benefits
- A positive workplace culture
- Professional autonomy and full scope of practice utilization
- Licensure portability through the Dental Hygiene Compact (DDH Compact)
- Targeted pipeline growth through the hygienist-inspired chairside recruitment program
- Expanded professional development pathways
The statement also pushes back on recent proposals from other dental organizations -- including allowing foreign-trained dentists to practice as dental hygienists and expanding dental assistants into hygiene-adjacent roles -- saying those approaches ignore documented evidence and risk further demoralizing the workforce.
