What is the job outlook like?
According to the U.S. Dept. of Labor: Job prospects should be excellent. • Dentists are expected to hire more assistants to perform routine tasks so that they may devote their own time to more profitable procedures. • Most assistants learn their skills on the job, although an increasing number are trained in dental-assisting programs; most programs take 1 year or less to complete. Dental assistants held about 266,000 jobs in 2002. Almost all jobs for dental assistants were in offices of Dentists. A small number of jobs were in offices of physicians, educational services, and hospitals. About a third of dental assistants worked part time, sometimes in more than one dental office. In addition to job openings due to employment growth, numerous job openings will arise out of the need to replace assistants who transfer to other occupations, retire, or leave the labor force for other reasons. Many opportunities are for entry-level positions offering on-the-job training. Population growth and
