Washington State
Dental staffing in Washington
Temp dental hygienists, registered dental assistants, front office staff and locum dentists across Puget Sound and beyond. What changes when you cross into Washington is the paperwork rather than the map, and it changes in two places that matter.
What each role holds
Everyone here is credentialed, including the assistants
That sentence sounds unremarkable until you have staffed somewhere else. Assistants are not registered at all in some jurisdictions and are covered by the same college as everybody else in others. Washington does neither. Assistants register with the Dental Quality Assurance Commission, and an unregistered assistant may not work the chair.
Above that registration sits a second, separate licence. Expanded function dental auxiliaries pass written and clinical examinations and may take on restorative duties a registered assistant may not. Two rungs, two different things to ask for, and asking for the higher one when you need the lower one narrows your pool for no benefit.
Three roles, all credentialed
Washington StateDentists. For locum and associate cover we confirm the Washington licence and its standing with the commission before the booking is confirmed.
Roles we staff
Temp and permanent dental staff in Washington
Temp dental hygienists (RDH), registered dental assistants and EFDAs, front office staff, office managers and locum dentists.
Temp and permanent dental hygienists in Washington
RDHLicensed by the Department of Health, with the local anaesthetic endorsement held separately rather than automatically. We confirm both, because a practice that needs injections and does not ask ends up with a hygienist who cannot give them.
hygiene column cover, recall days, maternity and medical leave
More about this roleTemp and permanent dental assistants in Washington
RDARegistered with the Dental Quality Assurance Commission, which is the difference that catches offices arriving from Ontario. Registration is not optional here and an unregistered assistant cannot work the chair.
chairside assisting, second chair, same-day callouts
More about this roleLocum and permanent dentists in Washington
Locum and associate cover statewide, from single-dentist practices on the peninsula to group offices across the Puget Sound metros.
locum cover, associate roles, sabbatical and leave blocks
More about this roleDental receptionists and front office staff in Washington
Reception and scheduling cover in a state with no personal income tax and a great deal of employer-sponsored dental benefit, which makes the eligibility conversation at the desk a busier one than it is further north.
reception cover, scheduling, recall and billing support
More about this roleDental office managers in Washington
Interim and permanent management, including practices opening a second Washington location and discovering the L&I account is not the one they already have.
interim management, leave cover, practice transitions
More about this roleSterilization technicians in Washington
Instrument reprocessing cover, most often booked alongside an assistant where a practice is short in both places at once.
instrument reprocessing, sterilization area cover
More about this roleHow we supply them in Washington
How employment works here
Priced by the hour, because the state prices it that way too
Workers’ compensation in Washington works unlike almost anywhere else, and the differences land squarely on temporary work.
Coverage comes from the state, or not at all
Washington does not permit private workers' compensation carriers. An employer buys from Labor and Industries or becomes a certified self-insurer, and there is no third choice. A group arriving from a state where it shopped this on the open market has nothing to shop.
Premiums are charged by the hour
Not per dollar of payroll, which is how most of the country does it. Rates here attach to hours worked, so a temp booking is priced on precisely the thing it consists of. That is unusually tidy for what we do, and it is why our quotes here reconcile against a timesheet rather than against a wage.
The worker pays part of it
A share of the medical aid, stay-at-work and supplemental pension premium is the employee's, collected by payroll deduction. Washington is close to alone among the states in that. On a temp booking the deduction is ours to take and ours to remit, so it never reaches your payroll at all.
The professional is our W2 employee
On temp and locum bookings we are the employer of record. The L&I account, the hours reporting, the deduction, the federal and state filings and the liability insurance sit with us, and you receive one invoice at an all-in hourly rate.
Regions of Washington
Six regions, divided the way the state divides itself: by which side of the Cascades you are on, and by whether you are on salt water. Regions with a page are linked. The rest are markets we cover and will describe honestly rather than promise blanket coverage of.
Seattle, Tacoma and Everett strung north to south along one interstate, with salt water on one side and mountains on the other. There is no ring road here and no way around, so travel in this region has two directions rather than four.
Bellingham, Mount Vernon and the Skagit and Whatcom valleys up to the Canadian border. Far enough from Seattle to keep its own pool, and close enough to the crossing that some of it looks north.
Bremerton, Silverdale, Port Angeles and the towns around them. A ferry timetable rather than a distance decides who can reach a practice here, which is the one thing this region has in common with the Sunshine Coast.
Olympia, Longview and Vancouver at the Columbia. The state capital anchors the north end, and the south end sits inside Portland's pull rather than Seattle's, with a state line running through the middle of the commute.
Yakima, Wenatchee and the Tri-Cities, on the dry side of the Cascades. Agricultural centres separated by real distance, each staffing from its own catchment and none of them from Seattle.
Spokane and the Palouse, closer to Idaho than to any part of the coast. The second city in the state and a genuine pool of its own, five hours from the first one.
Not seeing your community? Ask about it and we will tell you honestly what the pool looks like there.
For Washington professionals
One licence, one employer, as many practices as you like
One employer across the whole state
Work in Bellevue in March and Tacoma in September and it is still one job with one set of paperwork, one W2 at the end of the year and no separate onboarding at each practice.
Your licence is state-wide
A Washington licence is good in every practice in Washington, which is not true of the border in either direction. Coming from British Columbia is a fresh application here, not a transfer.
Say what you actually hold
Registered assistant and EFDA are different credentials and offices ask for the wrong one constantly. Telling us precisely which you hold widens what we can send you rather than narrowing it.
Set the trip you will genuinely make
Puget Sound is long and thin and travel here has two directions rather than four. What you are willing to drive matters more than how far away something looks.
Washington staffing questions
Do dental assistants need to be registered in Washington?
Yes, and this is the single most common thing offices get wrong when they arrive from elsewhere. State law is explicit that no person may practice as a registered dental assistant without being registered by the Dental Quality Assurance Commission. Expanded function dental auxiliary is a separate licence above that registration, requiring an approved education programme and both written and clinical examinations. A licensed EFDA may provide everything a registered assistant may, so an EFDA does not need to keep a separate assistant registration going.
Who licenses hygienists and dentists here?
Dental hygienists are licensed by the Washington State Department of Health, with a Dental Hygiene Examining Committee that prepares the licensure examinations and advises on the rules. Dentists are licensed and regulated by the Dental Quality Assurance Commission. On temp and locum bookings we confirm the credential and its standing before the professional attends, because for that shift the professional is our employee.
Can a hygienist give injections of local anaesthetic?
Only with the additional credential for it. Applying topical anaesthetic under general supervision is part of the licence; injecting local anaesthetic requires a specific endorsement or the equivalent examination history. Practices assume it comes with the licence and it does not, so tell us if your day depends on it and we will confirm the endorsement rather than the licence alone.
What is different about workers' compensation in Washington?
Three things. Coverage is bought from the state rather than from a private carrier, premiums are charged per hour worked rather than per dollar of payroll, and the worker pays a share of the premium through payroll deduction, which is close to unique among the states. On a temp booking all of that is ours: the account, the hours reporting and the remittance. Your practice receives one invoice.
Which parts of Washington do you actually cover?
Puget Sound is where our pool is deepest, and King County is the part of it with pages of its own. We are honest about the rest: the peninsula depends on a ferry timetable, and Spokane is five hours from the coast with a pool of its own that does not overlap ours. Ask about a specific town and we will tell you what the pool there really looks like rather than implying we cover the whole state evenly.
I am licensed in another state. Can I pick up shifts here?
Not on your existing licence. Washington licenses on its own terms and a licence issued elsewhere does not carry over on its own, so the application comes first and the shifts come after. It is worth starting that process before you move rather than after, and worth asking us what the market looks like in the meantime.
Whichever side of the chair you are on
Temporary staffing, permanent placement and dentist locum cover throughout Washington, for the practices that need people and the professionals who want the work.
For dental offices
Cover the chair, or fill the role
Tell us the role by its Washington name. Registered assistant and EFDA are different credentials, and asking for the second when you need the first makes a short list shorter.
For dental professionals
Pick up the work
A Washington licence works in every practice in the state. Set the trip you will genuinely make and we will keep the shifts inside it.