Browse by Topic: DSO & M&A · Practice Operations · Hygiene Career Track · Practice Finance · Regulation & Compliance

State-by-State: Where Independent Hygiene Practice Is Actually Legal in 2026 hygiene regulation & compliance Jul 17, 2026

By Pete Volk, founder of Dental Strategy Institute, with clinical review by Susan Volk, RDH.

There's a particular frustration in learning that your career ceiling was set by a state legislature you never voted for. A hygienist in Colorado can build something a hygienist in another state legally can...

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The Shortage Everyone's Talking About? Hygienists, That's Your Leverage. career-paths hygiene independent-practice Jul 16, 2026

Co-authored with Susan Volk, RDH

Every industry report this year has said some version of the same thing: recruiting hygienists has never been harder. Owners are describing it as "very" or "extremely" challenging at a rate north of 90%. Practices are raising wages, sweetening benefits, getting crea...

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Can Dental Hygienists Practice Independently? What Direct Access Actually Means hygiene regulation & compliance Jul 15, 2026

By Pete Volk, founder of Dental Strategy Institute, with clinical review by Susan Volk, RDH.

By year six, most hygienists have done a quiet kind of math. Not the paycheck math — the other kind. How many more years your neck and shoulders have in them. How many more identical Tuesdays sit between no...

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Hygiene Capacity Utilization: What the Benchmark Data Says and How to Close the Gap hygiene practice operations Jun 17, 2026

The hygienist shortage is the most discussed operational problem in dentistry right now. But the conversation almost always focuses on hiring — finding hygienists, paying them more, offering better schedules.

What gets talked about less is the math of what unfilled hygiene capacity actually costs yo...

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Dental Hygienists & Business Economics: Driving Practice Revenue hygiene practice finance Apr 03, 2026

 

What the Hygienist’s Role Means for Your Practice's Bottom Line

One of the biggest drivers of practice revenue is hygienists -- they're responsible for roughly a third of it. But in most hygiene programs, they don't tell you what that means, or why it should matter to your paycheck, your career,...

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