▶️ Full 5-part Hygiene Crisis series playlist: The Hygiene Crisis Series: Build, Recruit, Compensate, and Retain a High-Performing Hygiene Team

📥 Free Resource 1: mydentalplaybook.com/courses/ce-series/patient-financing

📥 Free Resource 2: go.mydentalplaybook.com/resources/three-models-one-standard

📥 Free Resource 3: go.mydentalplaybook.com/resources/hygiene-reappointment-script-card

🚀Grow Your Practice with Cherry Payment Plans: https://bit.ly/496YYLb

Can a hygiene department still be profitable in 2026?

Between rising wages, staffing shortages, PPO reimbursement pressure, and growing overhead, many practice owners believe the hygiene model is broken. But what if the real problem isn’t hygiene… It’s how your practice is designed.

In this episode, Dr. Blake Hamblin, Dr. Andrew Vallo, Dr. Collin Myrick, and Gary Bird compare three completely different practice models, including fee-for-service, PPO, multi-location, and rural practices, to reveal the systems they use to build productive hygiene departments that fuel long-term growth.

Whether you’re struggling to hire hygienists, wondering how much to pay, trying to improve retention, or debating whether hygiene should even be profitable, this conversation will challenge what you’ve been told and give you practical strategies you can implement immediately.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Should hygiene be a profit center or a patient acquisition strategy?
• The KPI that predicts long-term practice growth better than almost any other metric
• Why some practices hire hygienists before they actually need them
• How top-performing practices structure hygienist compensation and bonus plans
• The biggest mistakes owners make with hygiene scheduling and retention
• Why reappointment rate may be more valuable than new patient volume
• How three successful practices use completely different business models to grow
• The systems that help practices keep hygienists engaged while improving production

If you’re frustrated by rising payroll, empty hygiene schedules, or declining profitability, this episode will help you rethink what’s possible.

🎙️ Dr. Andrew Vallo’s Podcast: Check out Dr. Vallo’s podcast for more practice growth strategies. 👉 Dental Unfiltered Podcast | Matt Brown & Dr. Andrew Vallo

This is Episode 5 of 5 in the Hygiene Crisis series. Watch the complete series in order here: The Hygiene Crisis Series: Build, Recruit, Compensate, and Retain a High-Performing Hygiene Team

Episode order: The State of the Hygiene Market / Recruiting / Onboarding and KPIs / Pay and Compensation / PPO vs. Fee-for-Service