From compensation statistics to new programs, here are five dental assisting updates to know:
1. Lynnwood, Wash.-based Edmonds College plans to launch a dental assistant program this fall, My Edmonds News reported.
2. Graham, N.C.-based Alamance Community College is planning to expand its dental assisting program to a facility at the University of North Carolina Adams School of Dentistry in Chapel Hill, which would make it the only such program in the area.
3. The number of dental assisting graduates dropped 18.7 percent over five years, according to the American Dental Association's "Dental Education Program Enrollment and Graduates Report: 2021-22."
4. Dental assistants make roughly $9 to $17 more than the minimum wage in each state, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Labor.
5. Alaska is the highest paying state for dental hygienists, while Minnesota is the top paying state for dental assistants, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.