The Retention Dilemma in Academic Dentistry: Navigating Challenges, Cultivating Solutions

The shortage of dental faculty in US dental schools has emerged as a critical concern, undermining institutions' ability to sustain optimal faculty-to-student ratios and ensure educational excellence. This paper synthesizes national workforce data, institutional climate surveys, and recent literature to examine multifactorial barriers to faculty retention in academic dentistry. Principal retention challenges include burnout, workload imbalances, generational work style differences, compensation disparities, and emerging disengagement trends such as quiet quitting. Evidence-based strategies are discussed, including structured mentorship, transparent advancement opportunities, effective onboarding, leadership engagement, workplace flexibility, and institutional culture reform. The review concludes with actionable recommendations and identifies priority areas for future research, including multi-institutional longitudinal studies and cost-effectiveness analyses of retention initiatives.