Every state now permits some form of hygiene practice outside direct chairside supervision by a dentist — the scope varies widely, but the door that used to be fully closed is, in most places, at least partly open. What hasn't caught up is the business information hygienists need to actually walk th...
Henry Schein put out a tidy little announcement this week about a new leadership structure. They're creating something called the Henry Schein Leadership Team to replace the old Executive Management Committee, folding the global supply chain group into distribution, and three long-serving executives...
Myofunctional therapy has gone from a niche referral almost nobody in general dentistry had heard of, to a service line that orthodontists, airway-focused dentists, ENTs, and sleep clinics are actively looking to refer patients into — and increasingly, to bring in-house. For a dental hygienist looki...
By Pete Volk, founder of Dental Strategy Institute, with clinical review by Susan Volk, RDH.
What continuing education do independent hygienists need? You still owe your state's hygiene license CE hours every renewal cycle — often with required sub-categories like infection control — but as an inde...
More hygienists are stepping away from full-time chairside work and building something of their own. Orofacial myofunctional therapy has become one of the most compelling paths for making that move — a cash-pay clinical specialty, in genuinely short supply, that draws on skills a hygienist already h...
The ADA's Q1 2026 data shows dental reimbursement rates rose slightly in February. I know how that headline reads — like good news, finally, after years of owners feeling squeezed from every direction. Read past the first line, though, and the long-term picture is a lot less flattering. Rates still ...
By Pete Volk, founder of Dental Strategy Institute.
North Carolina just eliminated its requirement that DSOs get advance approval from the State Board of Dental Examiners before signing a management agreement. Under Session Law 2026-41, enacted July 7, 2026, parties can now execute a management arra...
By Pete Volk, founder of Dental Strategy Institute, with clinical review by Susan Volk, RDH.
Why are so many dental hygienists leaving chairside work? Mostly it's the pace, the physical toll, and being scheduled like a machine rather than treated like a clinician — not pay alone. Some move to temp ...
Six percent. Sit with that number for a second. That's how much dental equipment and supply prices climbed in the twelve months ending in February, according to the ADA — against a general inflation rate of roughly 2%. Your input costs are running three times the pace of the broader economy, and nob...
By Pete Volk, founder of Dental Strategy Institute, with clinical review by Susan Volk, RDH.
What do dental hygienists actually earn? Traditional chairside employment typically runs $35–$50 per hour with benefits and predictability. Temp and floating work often pays a 15–30% premium in exchange for...
Why Dental Transparency Is the Competitive Advantage Practices Are Sleeping On
I want to make an argument that might surprise you coming from someone who has spent 25 years on the supply side of dentistry.
Price transparency is not a threat to dental practices. It is, for the practices willing to ...
A practice owner told me a few months back that she'd raised her hygienist starting wage twice in eighteen months and still couldn't keep a chair filled. Twice. And she still had a waiting list of patients and an empty operatory on Tuesdays. If you've lived any version of that story, the ADA's lates...