Dental assistants are below average when it comes to happiness.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, dental assistants rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 32% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy dental assistants are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Dentist | 3.0 | $128k |
| Rehabilitation counselor | 3.0 | $41k |
| Physician assistant | 3.0 | $111k |
| Occupational therapist assistant | 3.0 | $52k |
| Surgical technologist | 3.0 | $30k |
| Dental assistant | 3.0 | $18k |
| Medical transcriptionist | 3.0 | $18k |
| Diagnostic medical sonographer | 3.0 | $43k |
| Optometrist | 3.0 | $96k |
| Hearing aid specialist | 2.9 | $60k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are dental assistants happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do dental assistants find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as dental assistants?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are dental assistant’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are dental assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Are dental assistants happy with their salary?
Dental assistants rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Dental assistants tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked dental assistants how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1615 dental assistants
12% of dental assistants rated their compensation 5 stars
18% of dental assistants rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of dental assistants rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of dental assistants rated their compensation 2 stars
19% of dental assistants rated their compensation 1 stars
Do dental assistants find their jobs meaningful?
On average, dental assistants rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.8/5. While most dental assistants aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked dental assistants how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
1626 dental assistants
15% of dental assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of dental assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of dental assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
21% of dental assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
21% of dental assistants rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as dental assistants?
Dental assistants rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of dental assistants find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked dental assistants how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
1732 dental assistants
37% of dental assistants rated their career fit 5 stars
29% of dental assistants rated their career fit 4 stars
18% of dental assistants rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of dental assistants rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of dental assistants rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a dental assistant’s work environment?
As a whole, dental assistants rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of dental assistants enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a dental assistant.
We asked dental assistants how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
1731 dental assistants
27% of dental assistants rated their work environment 5 stars
27% of dental assistants rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of dental assistants rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of dental assistants rated their work environment 2 stars
8% of dental assistants rated their work environment 1 stars
Are dental assistants making the best use of their abilities?
Former dental assistants on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most dental assistants are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked dental assistants how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
1741 dental assistants
21% of dental assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
22% of dental assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of dental assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
18% of dental assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
14% of dental assistants rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars