Dentist Interview Questions: What to Ask and What to Listen For
What to ask when you're hiring a dentist, and what a strong answer actually sounds like.
The questions worth asking in a dentist interview fall into four groups: clinical judgment, production and schedule fit, patient communication and practice fit, and credentials and scope.
Ask one or two from each, and take the production questions seriously — an associate who has never been paid on a percentage of production reads your offer very differently than one who has.
Below are the questions in each group, with what a strong answer sounds like.
Before the interview
Before the interview, verify the licence with your state board by name and number, and confirm DEA registration separately if the role prescribes — a DEA registration is a federal registration specific to the state, a practitioner who practices in more than one state needs a separate registration in each, and one based on another state's licence does not authorize controlled-substance dispensing in yours.
Doing both first means the interview is about fit rather than paperwork.
Know your own numbers before you ask about theirs — average production per day, typical case mix, new-patient flow — so you can answer the questions a strong candidate will ask back.
Keep every question about the job.
The EEOC says employers should generally not ask non-job-related questions about marital status, children or dependents, or spouses, and that most employers should not ask whether an applicant is a U.S. citizen before an offer — work eligibility is verified on Form I-9 after hire.
It also helps to know what the candidate has prepared: how dentists prepare for a job interview covers the questions candidates expect and the ones they should be asking you.
Clinical judgment
Walk me through how you diagnose and sequence treatment for a patient with extensive, non-urgent restorative needs.
What to listen for: A sequencing logic driven by disease priority and patient goals, not by what's most profitable to do first.
Candidates who jump straight to "what's covered by insurance" or lead with production are describing a sales process, not a treatment plan.
When do you refer out versus treat in-house, for procedures you're technically capable of doing?
What to listen for: A clear, consistent line based on case complexity and outcomes — not simply "whenever I can bill for it."
This question surfaces both clinical judgment and whether they'll work well with your existing referral relationships.
Tell me about a case where you disagreed with a prior diagnosis or treatment plan from another dentist.
What to listen for: How they handled it with the patient and, if relevant, the other provider — professionally and without undermining trust unnecessarily.
Look for judgment, not just confidence.
Production and schedule
What has your typical daily or monthly production looked like in your last role, and under what comp structure?
What to listen for: Concrete numbers and a structure they can describe clearly.
A candidate who can't state their own production or how they were paid for it hasn't been tracking it — worth knowing before you agree to a percentage-based offer.
How do you handle a day where the schedule is unexpectedly light?
What to listen for: Whether they understand a percentage-of-production offer means a light schedule is their risk too, not just the practice's.
A candidate who assumes light days are guaranteed income hasn't worked under this structure before.
Patient communication and practice fit
Why are you leaving your current practice, and what would make you stay somewhere?
What to listen for: Forward-looking reasons — case mix, mentorship, schedule — rather than only complaints about the last owner.
Someone discreet about patients and their former employer will likely be discreet about yours.
Tell me about a patient who refused a treatment plan you recommended. What did you do?
What to listen for: How they laid out alternatives, documented the conversation, and left the door open — not how they talked the patient into it.
Communication skills and patience are two of the qualities BLS lists as important for dentists, and this is where you hear them demonstrated instead of claimed.
What does your ideal schedule and case mix look like a couple of years from now?
What to listen for: Whether the answer matches the seat you actually have.
A candidate who wants molar endodontics and implant placement in front of a practice that refers those out is a polite no from both sides — better learned now than in month six.
Credentials and scope
Do you hold an active DEA registration, and has it ever lapsed or been restricted?
What to listen for: A direct, specific answer.
Any hesitation or vagueness here is worth a follow-up before an offer, not after.
Have you practiced under a non-compete before, and how did it affect your last move?
What to listen for: Awareness that terms and enforceability vary by state, and whether they had it reviewed.
It signals how they'll approach yours.
Worth a second look
None of these is disqualifying on its own.
Each is worth a follow-up question.
- Can't describe their own production numbers or comp structure from a prior role.
- Talks about production or upselling before patient assessment.
- Vague about which state issued their licence, its status, or DEA registration.
- No questions about your schedule, case mix, or referral relationships.
- Treats treatment-planning disagreements as something to avoid discussing rather than something they've navigated.
After the interview
Verify the licence and DEA registration with the relevant authorities before extending an offer, not after.
If you're offering a non-compete, put its actual terms in front of the candidate before the offer stage — enforceability varies by state, and a candidate who has it reviewed late can stall a start date you've already planned around.
A second-round working interview is a reasonable next step, and if you run one, pay for the hours worked: the U.S. Department of Labor found in 2018 that a Nashville dental practice violated federal minimum wage requirements by requiring job candidates to do a working interview without paying them for the hours, and under the FLSA, to employ includes to suffer or permit to work.
Running a working interview covers how to structure one.
The Dentist Hiring Market Right Now
The dentist openings you are competing with, from the 975 active listings on DentistryHires as of November 14, 2026.
Employers with the most openings
Where the openings are
- California126
- Texas95
- Florida70
- Arizona53
- Colorado43
Pay employers post
- Median $204,000 a year; the middle half of posted pay runs $190,000–$300,000 (135 listings that state a salary)
- 14% of dentist listings state any pay at all, so posting a range helps yours stand out.
Benefits listings name
- Health insurancenamed in 84%
- Paid or provided CEnamed in 82%
- 401(k) plannamed in 62%
- Dental or vision coveragenamed in 61%
- Malpractice insurancenamed in 56%
- Paid time offnamed in 33%
- Advancement opportunitiesnamed in 26%
- Uncapped earning potentialnamed in 23%
Source: active dentist listings on DentistryHires, updated daily. Pay figures use only listings that state pay (midpoint of each posted range) and are hidden when one employer posted most of them. Benefits count listings that name the benefit; a listing that doesn’t mention one may still offer it.
See the listings →Hiring now?
Post the role and start seeing associate candidates who are actively looking.
More for Hiring a Dentist
- How to Hire a Dentist →
- General Dentist Job Description Template →
- What to Pay a Dentist →
- Associate Dentist Contract: Sample Outline and What to Include →
- Hiring a Locum or Temp Dentist: When and How →
- Hiring Your First Associate →
- Career guide: The Dentist Career and Profession: What Dentists Do, Pay and Path →