Some will tell you that a dental office is completely within its rights to treat you as an independent contractor, if that’s what you agreed to. Others will tell you that it’s straight up illegal for a dental office to classify you as an independent contractor.

So, which is it? 

Employers have a tendency to hire new talent and assume that the hard work is done. The truth is that onboarding a new dentist or dental hygienist is often just the beginning - the beginning of a long adjustment period, the beginning of training and assessment, and the beginning of all the paperwork, especially if you’ve made the mistake of relying on a turn-and-burn temp agency that has its bottom line in mind rather than your own long-term needs. After the placement agency fills your job opening, who has to deal with the results, whether good or bad? You, of course.