Trends
Smile, you’re in demand: Dental hygienists find a friendly job market but limited benefits
Meet your next dental hygienists. The 30 newest graduates of Texas A&M College of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program earned both their dental hygiene pins and diplomas last month. They are now days away from their first opportunity to receive state licenses – golden tickets to enter a career so in demand that nearly two in five dentists surveyed nationwide reported their practices didn’t have adequate numbers of dental hygienists. Read More
Passing the drill: Baby boomer dentists bid goodbye, allowing young dentists’ smiles in the spotlight
Disco on FM radio was cool. “Grease” ruled the box office. That’s when Dr. Michael Plunk opened his eponymous dental practice in June 1978 in East Dallas’ Casa Linda neighborhood. “We weren’t dependent on insurance plans, PPOs, like corporations are,” he said. “It was about relationships, long-term relationships.” Fast forward to 2026, and Latin music is popular on Spotify playlists. “Pegasus 3” is this year’s highest-grossing film so far. Plunk officially retired last year, taking with him nearly half a century of memories. His farewell isn’t unique. A large share of dentists aged 60 and older left the workforce between 2017 and 2024. The retirement surge is slowing, but the American Dental Association Health Policy Institute in 2025 projected that most baby boomer dentists will age out of the workforce by the late 2020s. Stepping up is a rapidly growing pool of younger national talent. Dentists under 45 are poised to reshape the profession. There’s more. Read More