Employment

The multi-service profession provides diversified employment opportunities for dental assistants. The employment opportunities include general dentistry; group practice; specific dental specialties such as oral surgery, endodontics, orthodontics, prosthetics, periodontics, and pediodontics; dental school clinics; federal, state, and community clinics. Other opportunities include managing a dental business office, working in a major dental manufacturing or insurance company, serving in the armed forces, or teaching or working in research and development at a college or other agency.

Dental assistants held about 295,300 jobs nationally in 2008. About 93 percent of all jobs for dental assistants were in offices of dentists. A small number of jobs were in the federal, state, and local governments or in offices of physicians. Employment is expected to grow 36 percent from 2008 to 2018, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. In fact, dental assistants are expected to be among the fastest growing occupations over the 2008-2018 projection period.