What is the salary of a dental assistant?
A dental assistant’s salary depends on various factors but the three big ones are geographical location, experience, and the dentist’s or companies discretion. A registered or certified dental assistant’s salary is often higher than those that are not because of the increased job requirements but this depends on each state’s rules pertaining to dental assisting. Also it depends on the individual dentist or company to determine the degree of participation a dental assistant has in the practice and how much they are willing to pay. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics May 2009 report shows the average annual wage of dental assistants was $34,000 with a mean per hourly pay of $16.35. The hourly wage ranged from less than $11.92 to over $21.94. Looking at dental assistants wages at the state level shows the major difference in earnings by geographical location to meet the cost of living and other factors. West Virginia and Mississippi had some of the lowest average hourly wage numbers at $11
