What the role does
A locum or temp dentist covers another dentist's chair for a fixed period — a day, a week of vacation cover, a parental leave, or the gap between an owner's retirement and a new associate's start. The work is ordinary general dentistry, done in an office the dentist does not own, on a schedule someone else built, with a team they have often never met.
The day belongs to the host dentist: scheduled restorative and surgical work, hygiene exams, and whatever walks in. The locum reads the plans already in the chart, finishes what is clinically sound to finish, and defers the rest. Emergency triage matters, because fill-in days are often the days an office would otherwise cancel. Around that sits practical duty: learn the software fast, document so a stranger can read it, and leave a clear note behind.
Ideal qualifications
An active Florida dental license and two or more years of chairside experience after graduation. Locum work rewards breadth: a dentist who can cut a crown prep, complete a simple molar endodontic case, remove a broken root tip and handle a pediatric exam in one morning is more useful on a general schedule than a narrow specialist.
Adaptation speed matters as much. Comfort with several practice-management systems and with both sensor and phosphor-plate radiography shortens the unproductive first hour. Spanish or Haitian Creole is close to essential across much of Miami-Dade and Broward. Add current DEA registration, liability coverage that follows the dentist rather than one office, and a willingness to be credentialed quickly.
Licensing and certification in Florida
Dentistry is a licensed profession in Florida. A locum must hold an active Florida dental license issued by the Board of Dentistry under Chapter 466, Florida Statutes, and must practice within the Board's rules at Chapter 64B5 of the Florida Administrative Code. There is no general short-term or visiting permit for routine private-office coverage; Florida's limited licenses, such as teaching permits and the health access dental license, are tied to specific settings. Plan on full licensure.
Sedation and anesthesia are separate: the Board issues its own permits for nitrous oxide, conscious sedation and general anesthesia, and a locum cannot work under someone else's. Continuing education, current CPR certification and the Board's required courses run on the biennial renewal cycle, and prescribing controlled substances requires a federal DEA registration and use of Florida's prescription drug monitoring program. Florida also requires dentists to show financial responsibility, so confirm in writing which malpractice policy covers your days.
Pay in the Miami metro
Pay varies; the posts below show current offers. Locum arrangements in South Florida are usually written one of three ways: a flat day rate, a percentage of production or collections on the days worked, or a day rate with a percentage above a threshold. A flat rate is safer when the schedule is thin; a percentage pays better on a full book. Ask for the daily patient count, the hygiene schedule and who pays the lab bill before comparing two offers.
Schedule and setting
Most fill-in work runs a standard clinical day, roughly eight to five, in a private general practice or a small group. Group and DSO-managed offices book locums weeks ahead and often want Saturdays; solo offices call closer to the date. Some dentists build a full week from standing days at three or four practices; others take blocks of one to three weeks. Treat Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach as three markets: drive time is the hidden cost of the job, and a standing Wednesday in northern Palm Beach is worth less to a dentist in Kendall than the rate suggests.
Interview questions
- Which practice-management and imaging systems do you use, and who walks me through them on the first morning?
- How many operatories, how many hygiene exams, and what is the average daily patient count?
- How is my pay calculated, when is it paid, and who pays the lab bill on cases I start?
- Whose malpractice policy covers me on these days, and may I see that in writing?
- What am I authorized to decide alone, and what should wait for the regular dentist?
- How do you want treatment notes, referrals and unfinished cases handed back?
Career path
Locum work gets used three ways: early-career dentists sample practice styles before committing to an associateship, mid-career dentists run it full time and trade benefits for control of the calendar, and dentists near the end of practice use it to taper.
It is also a route toward ownership. A dentist who has covered forty offices knows which are well run and what a chair produces in each neighborhood, and a fair number of transitions begin as a temp booking. The step forward is associate, then partner or buyer; the step sideways is hospital, community health or specialty-support work.
Where to train locally
The degree comes first. In South Florida that means the College of Dental Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, or the University of Florida College of Dentistry for dentists who trained in state. Both run postgraduate residencies, AEGD and GPR, that build exactly the breadth locum work demands; a residency year is the best preparation for covering an unfamiliar chair. Internationally trained dentists usually enter through an advanced standing program, and continuing education for renewal comes from Board-approved providers. The assistants and hygienists you work beside are largely trained at Miami Dade College and Broward College.
Working through Miami Dentist
Practices across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach list fill-in and temporary coverage on our board alongside permanent roles. If you run a practice and need a chair covered, post a job. If you are a dentist looking for days, search openings, or start with the county you can reach without a long drive: Miami-Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach.