Why traditional dental recruitment agencies are so expensive

On the surface, traditional dental recruitment agencies look simple.

You tell them you need a dentist.
They send you CVs.
You pick one.
They send you an invoice.

Job done… until you look at what you've actually paid, and what happens if it doesn't work out.

This article breaks down:

• how agency fees really work
• why the risk is still mostly on you
• how Dentello's model, with fees from £12.50 per UDA including our own fees and a full-term replacement guarantee, is structured completely differently

The true cost of a recruitment agency

Most agencies charge a fixed fee per placement, often around:

• £5,000 to £10,000 + VAT per dentist

That can be:

• a flat fee, or
• a percentage of the dentist's projected salary

Either way, you are writing a big cheque before you know how the dentist will perform in your practice.

Spread a typical £5,000 fee across a 5,000 UDA plan and that alone is:

• £5,000 ÷ 5,000 UDAs = £1.00 per UDA
• plus VAT

And that's before:

• you pay the dentist their UDA rate (often £12 to 15 per UDA or more),
• you deal with any underperformance,
• you pay for locums if they leave, and
• you recruit again when things go wrong.

Short rebate windows, long-term risk

Most agencies offer a "rebate period", but it's usually brief:

• around 8 to 12 weeks in many cases

If the dentist:

• leaves in that short window, or
• doesn't start at all

you may get some money back or a partial credit.

But once that window closes:

• if they underperform
• if they quietly reduce sessions
• if they leave part-way through the year

the cost and risk are entirely on you.

The agency has been paid in full.
You are left to:

• fill the gap
• pay locums
• manage clawback
• and then pay again if you go back to an agency for a replacement.

No real link to UDA delivery

Agency fees are almost always tied to:

• a start date
• not UDAs actually delivered

Whether the dentist:

• delivers 6,000 UDAs, or
• delivers 3,000 UDAs and disappears

the agency's invoice is the same.

There is no structural link between:

• what you pay the agency, and
• how your UDAs perform over the next 3 to 4 years.

Where Dentello is different

Dentello is not a traditional recruitment agency. It's a clinical workforce platform built around:

• predictable UDA cost
• shared risk over the full contract
• and long-term performance

Instead of:

• a £5,000 + VAT cheque up front
• plus a high UDA rate
• plus 100% of the risk if things go wrong

Dentello offers:

• fees starting from £12.50 per UDA including our own fees
• most clinics sitting in a £12.50 to 14.50 per UDA band depending on location and requirements
• a replacement guarantee for the full length of the contract, if a dentist placed through Dentello doesn't work out at any point during the term, Dentello is committed to replacing them under your agreement

You are not paying twice every time something goes wrong.

Dentello and overseas dentists

For clinics hiring overseas associates, Dentello also:

• supports Skilled Worker sponsor licences at cost
• coordinates visa applications and absorbs the legal fee element
• helps with NHS performer onboarding

So instead of:

• paying an agency,
• paying an immigration lawyer,
• and juggling the rest internally,

you have a single partner tying all of this back to one thing:
your UDAs safely delivered by the right dentist, at a known cost per UDA.

Agencies vs Dentello, side by side

The question isn't just "who can find me a dentist?"

It's "who shares the risk with me over the full contract, and keeps my true cost per UDA under control?"