Dental Assistant
Services

Career Outlook

Prevalence ¦ Employment Opportunities ¦ Employment Projections ¦ Fastest Growing Professions ¦ How NJ Compares

Prevalence of Dental Assistants

According to the US Department of Labor (DOL), there are approximately 300,000 dental assistants currently working in the United States with over 9000 in New Jersey alone. In the Garden State (NJ) there are approximately 4 million employees across all professions, which means that less than ¼ of 1% of all people working in NJ are dental assistants. This tells us that there is still plenty of room for growth in this career path.

Further, 3% of all US dental assistants work in New Jersey. If every state had an equal amount, then 2% of all dental assistants would work in NJ. However given that NJ has one of the nation's highest populations 3% is about average. Again, this suggests that there is plenty of room for growth while also proving that dental assisting is a well established career in the Garden State.

Also according to the DOL, approximately 93% of dental assistants work for a dentist in a dental office. Others find work in places such as physician offices and with the government.

On a nationwide basis, those who work for the federal government earned the most. The second highest paying employer nationwide are speciality hospitals (such as those that specialize in psychiatric care), though there are very few of these positions available. Among the more common employers, general hospitals ranked slightly higher nationwide in terms of pay than did private dental offices.

Employment Opportunities

Dental assistants can be found in a variety of settings. A Dental Assisting National Board (DANB

) survey was conducted in 2010 that showed the following information. You may notice that some of the numbers will vary from the DOL data cited above. This is due in part to the fact that the DANB survey was conducted on Certified Dental Assistant (CDA

) certificants, while the DOL data is representative of all dental assistants regardless of what type of credentials they may or may not hold. There will also be some variability in the numbers due to the nature of statistical methodology (i.e., the way that studies such as these are conducted).

Employment Setting:	Percentage:
Private offices	75%
Educational	12%
Hospitals	3%
Other/ Misc.	3%
Military	2%
Health department	1%
Prisons	<1%

Type of Dental Practice:	Percentage:
General dentistry	71%
Multi-speciality	9%
Orthodontic	5%
Pediatric	5%
Oral surgery	5%
Endodontic	2%
Periodontic	2%
Prosthodontic	<1%

Type of Area:	Percentage:
Small city or suburb	46%
Large city	27%
Rural area	17%
Metropolitan area	10%

Type of Employment:	Percentage:
Full-time	73%
Part-time	24%
Temporary	3%

Employment Projections

Dental assisting is expected to be among the fastest growing fields this decade. The DOL expects that the trend of hiring experienced dental assistants over inexperienced assistants will continue. In other words, those who have completed a formal training program and who are certified and/or licensed will have more job opportunities.

Specifically, dental assisting as a field is expected to grow an impressive 36% by 2018! See below to compare this to other quickly growing professions.

There are a number of reasons for this large projection in growth. People are living longer. This means that as the population continues to age there will be an increased need for trained individuals to help with their oral healthcare. Also as people learn more about the benefits of and engage in more preventative dental care still other people who have not traditionally been to a dental office are expected to do so in the next decade. Sedation dentistry, holistic practices, and improved technology are also expected to encourage more people who have hesitated to seek proper dental care to do so in the future.

Additionally, studies have shown that younger dentists are more likely than their older counterparts to employee dental assistants. As more dentists retire and are replaced by younger ones, there should be an increase in the hiring of dental assistants. Furthermore, as the workloads of dentists continue to increase they will likely hire more dental assistants so that they can focus their time and attention on more complex procedures.

Fastest Growing Professions

According to the Department of Labor, dental assisting is projected to be amongst the fastest growing occupations this decade. Below you will find two versions of the same chart. The first ranks professions according to the actual number of jobs that are expected to be added between 2008 and 2018, while the second ranks the same professions according to the percentage of job growth.

Ranked according to jobs expected to be added

Rank:	Profession:	Number of Jobs Expected to be Added:	Percentage Growth:
1	Home health aides	460,900	50%
2	Personal and home care aides	375,800	46%
3	Computer software engineers	175,100	34%
4	Medical assistants	163,900	34%
5	Network systems analysts	155,800	53%
6	Dental assistants	105,600	36%
7	Self-enrichment teachers	81,300	32%
8	Compliance officers	80,800	31%
9	Dental hygienists	62,900	36%
10	Medical scientists	44,200	40%
11	Physician assistants	29,200	39%
12	Veterinary technicians	28,500	36%
13	Physical therapist assistants	21,200	33%
14	Veterinarians	19,700	33%
15	Physical therapist aides	16,700	36%
16	Aestheticians	14,700	38%
17	Biomedical engineers	11,600	72%
18	Financial examiners	11,100	41%
19	Biochemists and biophysicists	8700	37%
20	Athletic trainers	6000	37%
*Data for chart obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Ranked according to percentage growth

Rank:	Profession:	Percentage Growth:	Number of Jobs Expected to be Added:
1	Biomedical engineers	72%	11,600
2	Network systems analysts	53%	155,800
3	Home health aides	50%	460,900
4	Personal and home care aides	46%	375,800
5	Financial examiners	41%	11,100
6	Medical scientists	40%	44,200
7	Physician assistants	39%	29,200
8	Aestheticians	38%	14,700
9	Biochemists and biophysicists	37%	8700
10	Athletic trainers	37%	6000
11	Physical therapist aides	36%	16,700
12	Dental hygienists	36%	62,900
13	Veterinary technicians	36%	28,500
14	Dental assistants	36%	105,600
15	Computer software engineers	34%	175,100
16	Medical assistants	34%	163,900
17	Physical therapist assistants	33%	21,200
18	Veterinarians	33%	19,700
19	Self-enrichment teachers	32%	81,300
20	Compliance officers	31%	80,800
*Data for chart obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

How New Jersey Stacks Up

Salary Rankings by State for CDA Certificants

Salary Rankings by State for All Dental Assistants:

Rank:	State:
1	District of Columbia
2	New Jersey
3	New Hampshire
4	Vermont
5	California
6	Massachusetts & Virginia
8	Alaska
9	Minnesota
10	Arizona, Connecticut, Ohio, & Maryland
48	Wyoming
49	New Mexico
50	Kansas
*Data for chart obtained from a DANB survey.

Rank:	State:
1	Delaware
2	District of Columbia
3	Maine
4	New Jersey
5	California
6	Alaska
7	Rhode Island
8	Massachusetts
9	New Hampshire
10	Maryland
48	Utah
49	South Dakota
50	Alabama
*Data for chart obtained from 729 Dental Assisting Digest readers.