Factors That Can Affect Dental Assistant Salary Ranges

Dental assistant salary ranges, like any other career, start low and work up. There are a few factors involved in how quickly they can increase or simply how high an assistant can begin a job at. These are wide ranging and can mean the difference between just getting paid and earning a living.

One of the major factors in determining where the dental assistant salary ranges begin is the amount of schooling and experience they enter an office with. Typically, a recent graduate with less than one year of experience will start at an hourly rate of $9.00 to $12.00. This also greatly depends on the area of the country that the office is located in as the cost of living may be higher or lower than other locations.

As with any career, the more experience, the higher the pay. Dental assistants with 20 or more years of experience can earn between $15 and $20 per hour but again does not factor in location or continuing education. Along with the addition of continuing education, more skills are added, thereby making the assistant that much more valuable to an office or practice by boosting the level of patient care that much further.

Depending on location, the dental assistant salary ranges may be affected by the office’s need for someone who is bilingual. The ability to speak, read and write in another language can be invaluable to an office located on or near the border of another country. This can be a major factor in areas such as Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California and even Florida or New York.

There are ways an individual can affect the dental assistant salary ranges in the markets that they are competing in. By choosing a specialty to go along with their standard certifications, such as oral surgery or periodontics, can make them much more valuable to certain offices and the addition of an x-ray certification can provide the same effect. Another way is by becoming certified in the newest software available. This allows the assistant to enter an office without needing extra training, thereby saving the dentist time and money.

As with any job, the major contributing factor in salaries is experience. An experienced assistant will always fetch a higher hourly rate than a non-experienced assistant or someone with very little actual on the job background. This is no different in any respect than any other position available in any field and should be viewed as such.

The best way to insure that the proper hourly rate is being received is by doing some research online. There are many websites that have salary calculators available to tell you what can be expected for an hourly rated based on area, years of experience and educational background. In doing this type of research, one can be assured that whether looking in the area they already live in or maybe searching out that next great adventure, they will be receiving the wage deserved for the service they provide.