Being a dental assistant is considered to be one of the physically strenuous, demanding and stressful jobs in the labor market today. As dental assistants essentially become the glue that holds the office together and is usually the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, one would think that pay for a dental assistant would be rather high. According to one industry report and poll, it isn’t apparently so.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) finds that the median salary for dental assistants is around the $34,000 to $35,000 range, but a new DentalPost Survey discovered that the average annual pay for a full-time dental assistant is actually closer to $27,000. This suggests a 20 percent wage discrepancy, a troubling statistic for a tough job.
In order to understand the employment trend and to give job seekers a snapshot into the industry, DentalPost, an online job board, decided to offer transparency and share this crucial information to the general public and those who are interested in entering the dental field.
The survey, which polled more than 500 DentalPost users, garnered various data points, such as salary, tenure and workplace benefits. This results showed that the average full-time dental assistant works a minimum of 36 hours a week, earns between $24,000 and $27,000 per year and nearly half (49 percent) have attended college.
“At DentalPost, it’s our job to keep our finger on the pulse of the dental job market, and share information about the potential of that space with our users,” said DentalPost Founder and CEO, Tonya Lanthier in a statement. “Through our Dental Assistant Survey, we learned that while workplace realities may differ slightly than industry reports, this occupation remains one of the fastest growing in the dental industry and talent continues to be in high demand.”
The BLS data also revealed that the employment of dental assistants is expected to grow 25 percent over the next eight years, a figure that is a lot higher than most other professions because of the demand for preventative dental services.
However, dental assistants often experience a burnout because of the duties the job entails.
Here is what Wealth-Club-Creators.com wrote about a career as a dental assistant:
“Having a career as a Dental Assistant can be very rewarding. It can also be stressful and overwhelming at times. Working with people can get the best of us from time to time. Being a Dental Assistant requires ongoing dedication and energy. If you find yourself becoming physically and emotionally drained due to your work responsibilities as a Dental Assistant, you may be on your way to experiencing a burnout.”
Due to this nature of the job, many dental assistants often decide to enter into hygiene, considering that it is listed as one of the least stressful jobs around today and the pay is quite good – the BLS highlights the median pay for hygienists to be more than $70,000 a year and the employment outlook is projected to rise 33 percent within the next eight years.
