How the dental assistant shortage is affecting the profession

Is your office looking for more qualified dental assistants? You’re not alone. The dental assisting profession has been facing staffing shortages since the COVID-19 pandemic, causing ripple effects across dentistry. As outlined in DANB’s Financial Impact of Dental Assistants on the Dental Practice report, dental offices with vacant dental assisting positions may face decreased patient volume, productivity, and revenue.

The shortage has also affected dental assistants themselves, causing some negative repercussions while also opening new opportunities. Here’s a closer look at how dental assistants continue to be impacted by the labor shortage.

Increased workload and responsibilities

With practices facing staffing shortages, many dental assistants have been asked to perform additional duties, work longer hours, and take fewer breaks. You might be disinfecting more instruments or preparing more trays than you used to with a full staff of dental assistants. You may be rushing to set up multiple operatories at the same time or bouncing between two appointments simultaneously, seating a patient and taking x-rays in one room before assisting the dentist with a procedure in the next.

DANB’s financial impact report found that when a dental assisting position is vacant, about half of the duties are assigned to another dental assistant. Additionally, when new dental assistants are hired, training them often falls on current dental assistants about two-thirds of the time, which further adds to their workload.

Burnout

An increased workload can wear on dental assistants over time. Some report that they feel stressed or overwhelmed by everything they have to do. Many dental assistants also say their extra efforts aren’t valued, citing dissatisfaction with their pay or a lack of acknowledgment from their boss. These feelings can lead to burnout, which may cause decreased motivation, lowered job satisfaction, diminished job performance, negative attitude, shortened attention span, or physical symptoms such as fatigue.

When you’re feeling burned out, communicate with your boss about how you’re feeling. If you don’t feel appreciated, explain that you’d like to receive more positive feedback or recognition. If you’re unhappy with your pay, it may be time to ask about a promotion or a raise. If your work-life balance is being affected by long work hours, your manager may be able to delegate some of your workload or adjust your schedule to feel more manageable.

More career growth opportunities

The labor shortage has also opened up new opportunities for dental assistants to shine and expand their careers. As they’re being relied on even more, many dental assistants have earned expanded functions credentials so they can perform additional duties in the office. A recent report from DANB found that 38 states have an expanded functions dental assistant (EFDA) level, and that 62% of dental assistants who aren’t currently EFDAs would like to become one. Other dental assistants have stepped into leadership roles, mentoring and training new hires or becoming team leads.

Stepping into new roles often allows dental assistants to receive pay increases. For example, dental assistants who are team leads make about 9-10% more than those who are not, according to DANB’s Dental Assistants Salary and Satisfaction Survey. Dental assistants who perform restorative functions make about 4-5% more than those who do not. 

Better negotiating power

In the third quarter of 2025, 37.5% of private practices were actively hiring dental assistants, according to the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute. Nearly 70% of those practices have found it “very” or “extremely” challenging to recruit for those open positions. While fewer practices have reported hiring challenges for dental assisting positions over the last year, it’s clear that there remains a real need for dental assistants. And that can open opportunities for dental assistants to negotiate their compensation, whether they’re searching for new positions or asking for a raise from their current practice.

At least one dental assistant has already found success with this approach. Kishan Patel, CDA, COA, CPFDA, CRFDA, advocated for better pay for all the dental assistants at his practice by using salary data from DANB and other sources as well as sharing feedback with leadership about his colleagues feeling undervalued.