Toothio Tackles Dental Workforce Crisis with Industry's First AI Recruiting Agent

The fully autonomous recruiting agent streamlines sourcing, engagement, and hiring, giving dental offices faster access to qualified professionals nationwide

PHOENIX, Jan. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Toothio, the leading digital staffing marketplace for dental practices, today launched Mel, the first AI recruiting agent built for healthcare. The system enables dental offices and DSO networks to automatically source, engage, and hire credentialed professionals, in real time, nationwide.

With Mel, dental offices no longer need to rely on job boards or manual recruiting. The system identifies qualified professionals, creates personalized outreach plans, and engages candidates via text, email, and phone. It adapts dynamically to questions, objections, and preferences, creating a fully automated pipeline that significantly reduces time-to-hire and cost-per-hire, while allowing practices to focus on patient care.

"Mel isn't just another AI tool – it's a fully autonomous recruiting agent that understands context, communicates conversationally, and closes the loop between opportunity and engagement," said Ian Prendergast, co-founder and CEO of Toothio. "It scales like software but performs like a human team, and it's already transforming how our partners fill shifts across the country."

The launch marks a major milestone in Toothio's mission to modernize the way dental practices find and retain talent amid nationwide shortages. According to the American Dental Association's Health Policy Institute, 62 percent of dentists cite staffing shortages as their biggest concern for 2025. With roughly one-third of hygienists and assistants set to retire within five years, unfilled roles are already reducing practice capacity by an estimated 10%.

By combining real-time marketplace data with agentic AI, Toothio can now launch and fill positions instantly in any market, removing the traditional friction between supply and demand. Mel's impact goes beyond recruiting — it aggregates engagement data, preferences, and feedback to continually optimize future outreach and deliver actionable insights to stakeholders.

For dental offices, Mel means faster hiring, fewer no shoes and cancellations, and higher retention. For dental professionals, it means more transparency, flexibility, and access to relevant opportunities — all managed through the channels they already use every day.

Dental offices and professionals can join Toothio by visiting www.toothio.com or downloading the Toothio mobile app.

About Toothio
Founded in 2021, Toothio's mission is to alleviate the staffing challenges faced by dentists by providing on-demand access to hygienists and assistants. Toothio's staffing platform enables dental practices to quickly increase office production and better support their patients. Toothio offers dental professionals freedom and flexibility, making it the class-leading labor option for those in the dental industry. For more information about Toothio, visit www.toothio.com.

Media Contact: Skoglund PR; [email protected]

SOURCE Toothio