Jun 17, 2025
Virginia Dentists Warn Patients Seeking Preventative Care to Expect Long Waits and to Schedule Appointments Now to Use 2025 Dental Benefits
Virginia continues to outpace the national average in its concentration of dentists while falling short of the national average in the number of dental hygienists in the workforce, according to new licensure survey data presented Friday, June 13, to the Virginia Board of Dentistry.
The Virginia Department of Health Professions’ Healthcare Workforce Data Center, which evaluates trends in Virginia’s licensed healthcare workforce through regular, detailed assessments of workforce supply and demand, finds the state has 6,283 dentists in the workforce compared to 5,306 dental hygienists, an uneven ratio that can delay patient care. Hygienists are preventative specialists in a dental office, and a dentist is permitted to supervise up to four hygienists.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and right now in Virginia, patients are unable to schedule timely appointments to help maintain their oral health. Imagine if your local hospital had more doctors than nurses; that’s what dental offices are facing every day,” said Virginia Dental Association CEO Ryan Dunn. “When preventative dental care is out of reach, it means dentists are treating more advanced dental disease, which means greater health risks in patients, life-threatening infections, and cancer that isn’t caught early, and many Virginians are missing work and school due to unplanned dental treatment. In Virginia and across the country, the No. 1 barrier to patients getting timely appointments and accessing preventative dental care is the availability of our allied dental workforce. We owe it to our patients to work together to find solutions to ease these significant staffing challenges.”
Dental hygienists play an essential role in dental practices. For many general and pediatric dentists, the availability of hygienists is the key factor in their ability to see more patients.
According to the report, Virginia’s concentration of dentists is well above the national average, with 70.5 dentists per 100,000 people, compared to 60.4 nationally.
The state’s concentration of dental hygienists is well below the national average, with 60.5 hygienists per 100,000 people compared to 65.04 nationally.
The ongoing hygienist shortage puts a strain on dental office operations. A recent poll by the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute found that half of dentists have personally taken on duties previously assigned to other team members due to staffing challenges, preventing them from practicing at the top of their license and limiting their ability to care for more patients.
Complex accreditation requirements and comparatively high operating costs contribute to a limited number of dental hygiene education programs in Virginia, according to VDA leaders. These programs are also in-demand, with seven students applying for each available seat in a Virginia dental hygiene education program.
According to the report, most dental hygienists work between 30-39 hours a week and 95 percent of Virginia hygienists report that they are satisfied or very satisfied with their current role. The report, which can be found here, also details regional variations in the licensed dental workforce.
The VDA continues to work with partners to raise awareness about career opportunities in dentistry, including dental hygienists, dental assistants, expanded function dental assistants, and practice management.
A recent report from the Virginia Community College System found that dental hygienists have the highest wage of any healthcare role available in Virginia with a two-year associate degree.
Virginia Dentists: Book your appointments now
The continued workforce shortage can mean long wait times for patients seeking preventative care.
As some dental practices are scheduling out their earliest preventative appointments more than six months in advance, the VDA encourages patients to book any upcoming appointment now to ensure an appointment before the end of the year, and to utilize their dental benefits.
Most dental benefits reset each year. If patients with dental insurance don’t use their annual benefit by the end of the year, they will lose it. Dental insurance typically covers the full patient cost of a preventative visit, yet nearly 47% of adults with private insurance did not visit the dentist last year, according to a recent poll by the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute.
While some dentists are booked months out for regular checkups, dentists can typically see patients sooner for a specific need or to address pain. The sooner an issue is taken care of, the less likely it is to cause problems down the road.
Read about Virginia Western Community College’s Dental Hygiene program:
https://www.virginiawestern.edu/academics/health-professions/dental-hygiene/
Learn about careers in oral health in this podcast episode: