Volume 7 • 2020 • Issue 1

10 | 2020 | Issue 1 CDA at W ork An anonymous respondent to a survey conducted by the Canadian Dental Assistants’ Association (CDAA)—referred to as the “working conditions” survey in this article—described the work of a certified dental assistant this way: I’ve heard good dentists say that an experienced [certified dental assistant] should be like having a second dentist in the room. We literally sit right next to expert surgeons and specialists 10 hours a day assisting, listening to everything they say. We are highly trained, regardless of what type of paper we have from school. The x-rays we are expected to take with endo files and a dam in the way. The top-notch lab work and temp crowns. The delicate ortho skills. And the people skills. The grace to maneuver a patient through an appointment.” * In March 2019, the CDAA surveyed 1,627 dental assistants to learn more about their working conditions and determine what factors cause high turnover and early exit from the profession. About 31% of dental assistants who responded reported that they were aware of a dental assistant opening in their current practice. One of the findings of this "working conditions" survey was that dental assisting employee turnover and exit from the profession are caused by several hard-to-modify factors. More than 99% of the dental assistants that responded to the “working conditions” survey were female, and 42% were between the ages of 20 and 34. This demographic represents a large pool of the workforce that are likely to need parental leave. Studies indicate that significant proportion of workers (especially women) with lower incomes that go on parental leave do not re-enter the workforce. One of the primary reasons for this is high child care costs. In a related survey conducted by the Canadian Dental Association (CDA)—known as the dental assistant “shortage” survey in this article—30% of dentists who responded had a vacant dental assistant position that they were trying to fill, and 85% felt there was a shortage of dental assistants in their area. According to this “shortage” survey, the main reasons that dentists reported for dental assistants leaving practice were “family responsibilities” (including parental leave), “better offer elsewhere,” and “need to relocate.” Most of the recent hires (44%) were from another practice, followed by new graduates (27%). TheDental AssistantWorkforce Two Surveys Reveal Reasons for Attrition from the Profession