Dental & DSO
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire dental and DSO talent who can make sound clinical or office decisions within your schedule, systems, and reporting structure.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
An associate dentist, clinical director, office manager, and regional leader do different work. We start by defining the seat, then screen for the decisions that person makes during a normal day. For dentist hires, we look beyond procedure lists. A provider may have implant experience but need longer appointment blocks than your location can offer.
We ask how the clinician evaluates a changed finding, presents options, documents the plan, and responds when a scheduled procedure no longer fits the examination.
Office and regional managers need evidence of action on cancellations, staffing gaps, unpaid claims, open treatment, and patient complaints.
What do we check before you see anyone?
For dentist roles, we screen for active state dental board licensure and current DEA registration. We ask about any board matter that could affect your review. Your team completes credentialing and confirms that the license, registration, location, and assigned scope fit the role.
- If your office offers sedation, we request documentation for the relevant permit and discuss the candidate’s actual experience. We discuss the type and route of sedation. Your clinical leaders decide whether the permit and procedural background match services offered at that site.
- For advanced-procedure roles, we ask the dentist to walk through a full-arch rehabilitation or implant case. Questions cover diagnosis, case selection, laboratory coordination, referrals, patient discussions, follow-up, and what the dentist personally completed rather than sent elsewhere.
- We ask about infection control work in practical terms. Candidates describe instrument processing, operatory turnover, audit documentation, and an issue they had to address. Your team evaluates clinical practice and local policies; we identify whether the candidate can discuss the work with useful detail.
- For office and regional managers, we ask which practice management software they used and how they read a daily production report. A full schedule can still include unconfirmed appointments, incomplete treatment, unpaid balances, claims delays, or provider gaps.
- For people-management roles, we ask about performance reviews, attendance discussions, written coaching, and work with HR on disciplinary matters. Someone who assigned tasks without direct supervision may not fit a role that owns staff performance decisions.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Dentists may come from group practices, regional multi-site clinics, or private group settings. A move may appeal because of a different procedure mix, clearer leadership duties, a shorter commute, or less responsibility for business administration. Office, regional, and operations candidates may come from private group practices or larger dental organizations.
Others want direct authority over scheduling, collections, staffing, or several locations.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is using the same interview for an associate dentist, sedation provider, clinical director, and office manager. Another is accepting claimed procedure volume without asking what the dentist diagnosed, treated, referred, and followed after delivery. We ask what they reviewed, what they changed, who owned the next step, and how they handled disagreement between front-office and clinical teams.
Waiting until the offer stage to explain scheduling control, clinical protocols, reporting lines, or staff-performance authority.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us the location, procedure mix, schedule pattern, reporting line, software, and decisions the hire owns. We review credentials, work history, stated reasons for moving, and fit. You meet selected candidates and complete credentialing, references, and clinical assessment. Clinical directors need evidence of provider coaching and chart review.
Define the seat
For managers, identify direct reports and the reports they must review.
Screen the work history
We ask concrete questions about cases, schedules, reports, team conversations, and boundaries of responsibility.
Interview and decide
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
Every title in Dental & DSO
- General Dentist
- Pediatric Dentist
- Orthodontist
- Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon
- Endodontist
- Periodontist
- Lead Dentist / Clinical Director (DSO)
- Regional Dental Director
- Chief Dental Officer
- Dental Office Manager
- Regional Director of Operations (DSO)
- Dental Director (FQHC)
Can you help with temporary coverage or per diem hiring?
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts. Per diem placement adds a person to your own pool rather than covering one shift. Some seek stronger reporting tools or standardized training.
How do you distinguish an associate dentist from a clinical director?
An associate dentist is assessed on diagnosis, treatment delivery, documentation, patient communication, and assigned procedures. A clinical director also needs evidence of chart review, provider coaching, and judgment when clinicians disagree about practice patterns.
Should every dentist opening include sedation experience?
No: sedation experience should match the services and permit scope of the specific seat. Asking every candidate for it can shrink the pool when the office does not offer sedation.
What should we ask an office manager about daily reports?
Ask which figures they reviewed, what an unusual result meant, and what they did that day. Useful answers may address open treatment, cancellations, claims, collections, unconfirmed appointments, or schedule gaps.
How do you handle a candidate who is employed elsewhere?
We discuss the role discreetly and ask what would make a move practical. Before final interviews, we ask about notice timing, commute, schedule constraints, and relocation plans if relevant.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us which dental or DSO seat is open. We will start with the work that person must perform and the decisions they must own.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.