Better Dental Recruitment Starts With Better Insight

This Q&A with Lorna Morton, Recruitment Team Manager at Henry Schein Dental Recruitment, explores how dental practices can attract candidates in a competitive recruitment market, and how dentist shortages, part-time working patterns, flexible working expectations, pay pressures, and candidate choice are shaping dental recruitment. It also highlights why speed, clear communication, and specialist recruitment support and the Henry Schein Dental Recruitment Insights Report can help practices secure strong candidates and benchmark their recruitment approach.

How To Attract Dental Candidates In A Competitive Recruitment Market

“It’s a given that offers to candidates need to be competitive when you’re recruiting,” begins Lorna Morton, Recruitment Team Manager for Henry Schein Dental Recruitment. “But I would say the biggest factor at the moment is speed. Being able to move quickly with a candidate, be dynamic, and be adaptable can make the difference between you securing a candidate or not.”

With 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Lorna is well versed in what can give recruiters an advantage over their competitors. According to Lorna, in today’s candidate-led dental jobs market, the best candidates are often considering more than one opportunity – and if you don’t move quickly, you could risk losing your perfect candidate to another practice.

But while hiring speed matters, it’s not the only factor the can determine recruitment success.

“Our latest Recruitment Insights Report has been put together to give a snapshot overview of the market,” explains Lorna, when summarising Henry Schein Dental Recruitment’s latest findings. “We’ve spoken to candidates directly, and put together all of that data to help you understand what they’re really looking for – be it part-time hours, location, or pay.”

We spoke to Lorna about the key findings from the 2026 Recruitment Insights Report, how it can help recruiters understand the market better, and how using a specialist dental recruiter can optimise your dental practice’s recruitment success.

What are the current issues with dental recruitment in the UK?

 We all know there’s a major shortage of dentists, but when we look into it further, we start to notice a few key reasons for this that go beyond simply the number of people graduating versus people leaving dentistry.

Dental professionals’ behaviours have changed, with dentists now predominantly working part time rather than full time, which immediately leaves a gap. So already this has created a shortage, even if everything else remained the same – which is hasn’t. Dentists’ differing working habits and preferences, such as swaying towards private rather than NHS dentistry, are dictating the market even further, adding more pressure for recruiters.

What are dental candidates looking for in a new role, and how has this changed in recent years?

In recent years there has been more of a shift towards flexible working, although I don’t think this is exclusive to the dental industry: since COVID, people are prioritising their work-life balance more heavily across the board.

Increased pay is another thing candidates are seeking – and again, we would probably see this across other markets too, not just within dentistry. However, because we’re operating in a shortage market, dental candidates are more in control, meaning they can dictate pay rates and more, which can make it difficult for dental practices to find the right person that also fits within their constraints.

How can dental practices attract associate dentists in a candidate-led market?

Be flexible where you can. And that doesn’t necessarily mean cutting people’s hours from full time to part time – you could offer slightly later starts or earlier finishes, for example. Depending on the candidate’s individual circumstances, offering them an improved work-life balance can mean more than more money.

While pay rates do need to be competitive, there are other things that can make a practice more attractive to candidates. For younger dentists especially, having up-to-date technology and equipment within your practice can be really appealing. I also think there’s a lot to be said about the overall feel of a practice, which is hard to quantify, but can make all the difference.

By accommodating your candidate’s needs and offering them a workspace that makes them feel comfortable, you can build on your relationship with them and really demonstrate their value. Today’s dental professionals know their worth, and they want to be treated as more than a commodity – they want to feel like they’re part of something.

What are hygienists and therapists expecting from dental practices in 2026?

So again, with hygienist and therapist roles, candidates want to feel like an important addition to the team. These are growing roles that are increasingly adding value to practices, and candidates want to be treated accordingly.

We are still in a shortage market with these candidates as well, meaning they often have a choice of multiple roles which allows them to dictate salary, for example, so you have to be competitive with more than just pay. Ultimately, I think it comes down to feeling valuable, having the opportunity for growth, and working as part of a good team.

What can dental practices do to gain an advantage over their competitors when recruiting?

It’s a given that offers to candidates need to be competitive, but I would say the biggest factor at the moment is speed. Being able to move quickly with a candidate, be dynamic, and be adaptable can make the difference between you securing a candidate or not.

Practices can lose out on high-quality candidates if they’re not quick enough at giving feedback, arranging interviews, or putting forward an offer – good candidates won’t wait around, they’ll accept another offer. Acting quickly not only shows your interest, but also demonstrates how efficient your practice is throughout the process, and that you understand the value your candidate holds.

Poor or slow communication can create a disconnect for candidates, so if you want them, you need to act quickly.

What are the benefits of using a specialist dental recruitment agency?

Our job at Henry Schein Dental Recruitment is to be here to help you, and to deal with all things recruitment while you continue to focus on running your practice. If you want to get the best person, you have to act quickly, and working with Henry Schein Dental Recruitment means we can make that happen without you taking much time out of your day.

If you recruit by yourself, your first step is putting together a job advert, which doesn’t sound too difficult on the surface, but you need to make it attractive – you need to make it stand out from all the other job opportunities out there. After that, you need to contact candidates and conduct interviews, all of which take time – time which you could be utilising within your practice. If you work with us, the process becomes much simpler. Plus, we can get your ad out to a wider audience that you might not have access to.

We have a massive database of over 40,000 candidates – some of whom are “active” seekers, who are actively looking for a new role, and “passive” seekers, who aren’t necessarily trawling job sites but would be interested in the right opportunity when it comes up, and whom you wouldn’t have access to through job boards. This can increase the quality of your applications and ultimately the person that you appoint.

What can practices learn from the Henry Schein Dental Recruitment Insights Report?

Our latest Recruitment Insights Report has been put together to give a snapshot overview of the market. We’ve spoken to candidates directly, and put together all of that data to help you understand what they’re really looking for – be it part-time hours, location, or pay.

It also gives you an insight into what other practices are doing – what jobs they are advertising, and how the market is responding. When you put these two things together, you can position yourself really well in the market to not only attract the best candidates to begin with, but to retain them too.

Download the full Henry Schein Dental Recruitment Insights Report 2026 to discover the trends shaping the future of dental recruitment.