---
title: "Dental Assistant"
description: "Perform limited clinical duties under the direction of a dentist. Clinical duties may include equipment preparation and sterilization, preparing patients…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-assistant"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Dental Assistant

**Category:** Healthcare Support · **SOC code:** 31-9091 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 31-9091.00

Perform limited clinical duties under the direction of a dentist. Clinical duties may include equipment preparation and sterilization, preparing patients for treatment, assisting the dentist during treatment, and providing patients with instructions for oral healthcare procedures. May perform administrative duties such as scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purposes.

Also advertised as: Certified Dental Assistant (CDA); Certified Registered Dental Assistant; Dental Assistant (DA); Expanded Dental Assistant; Expanded Duty Dental Assistant (EDDA); Expanded Functions Dental Assistant (EFDA); Oral Surgery Assistant; Orthodontic Assistant (Ortho Assistant).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,070 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.11/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $37,130 to $62,250, with the middle half between $44,340 and $58,090
- **Total US employment:** 387,790
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +6.4% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 52,900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 53/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 387,790 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $37,130 |
| 25th | $44,340 |
| 50th (median) | $48,070 |
| 75th | $58,090 |
| 90th | $62,250 |
| Mean (average) | $50,200 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MN | $65,270 | $66,183 | 5,980 |
| DC | $60,580 | $55,122 | 630 |
| ME | $60,070 | $61,896 | 1,550 |
| NH | $59,530 | $57,150 | 1,600 |
| OR | $59,490 | $57,556 | 5,930 |
| WA | $58,090 | $54,283 | 13,050 |
| MA | $57,980 | $54,824 | 9,680 |
| ND | $57,770 | $64,940 | 860 |
| AK | $57,710 | $56,380 | 1,140 |
| CT | $56,850 | $54,869 | 3,840 |
| VT | $52,760 | $53,860 | 580 |
| NC | $50,380 | $53,411 | 11,450 |
| RI | $50,150 | $49,032 | 1,050 |
| CA | $50,110 | $45,258 | 56,220 |
| NJ | $49,390 | $45,393 | 9,990 |

38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-assistant/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/dental-assistant.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 381,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 406,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 24,400 jobs, or +6.4%. Much faster than average: 6.4% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 52,900 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Postsecondary nondegree award (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 46.0% |
| High School Diploma | 28.6% |
| Some College Courses | 17.1% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 8.3% |

## What the work involves

- Prepare patient, sterilize or disinfect instruments, set up instrument trays, prepare materials, or assist dentist during dental procedures.
- Record treatment information in patient records.
- Assist dentist in management of medical or dental emergencies.
- Provide postoperative instructions prescribed by dentist.
- Take and record medical and dental histories and vital signs of patients.
- Expose dental diagnostic x-rays.
- Fabricate temporary restorations or custom impressions from preliminary impressions.
- Instruct patients in oral hygiene and plaque control programs.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Realistic (R), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.43 |
| R — Realistic | 4.48 |
| S — Social | 4.37 |
| I — Investigative | 3.55 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.34 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISFJ | 85.8 |
| ISTJ | 81.2 |
| ESTJ | 71.6 |
| ESFJ | 67.3 |
| ISTP | 57.9 |

Best-fitting types: ISFJ, ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Dental Hygienist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-hygienist) — median $98,100
- [Medical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-assistant) — median $45,690
- [Ophthalmic Medical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmic-medical-technician) — median $45,570
- [Surgical Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-assistant) — median $66,800
- [Endoscopy Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/endoscopy-technician) — median $48,430
- [Dental Laboratory Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-laboratory-technician) — median $49,610
- [Surgical Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surgical-technologist) — median $64,650
- [Ophthalmic Medical Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ophthalmic-medical-technologist) — median $50,290
- [Veterinary Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinary-technician) — median $47,380
- [Physical Therapist Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physical-therapist-aide) — median $35,240

### Dental Assistant compared with

- [Dental Hygienist vs Dental Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dental-hygienist-vs-dental-assistant) — side by side on BLS wage percentiles, projected growth, openings and entry requirements

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/dental-assistant