Dental hygiene jobs: Low stress, underrated, growing in number?

CareerCast editors compiled the list by reviewing job-rating data supplied by its site users. Here’s how it describes the positions that its analysis revealed: “They’re professions that don’t woo people with the high salaries or notoriety, but instead have characteristics that make them especially worthy. For instance, our most underrated jobs typically have median-to-higher income levels, lower stress, lower environmental dangers and lower physical demands.

“And even in this tight economy, all share one great attribute: a lower than average unemployment rate.”

Coming in at No. 9 on the list of 12 jobs: Dental hygienist.

CareerCast is better known for its annual listing of the “best” and “worst” jobs of the year. Interestingly, dental hygienist was one of only three jobs on the just-released “underrated” list to also make the top-10 best jobs of 2011, coming in at No. 10.

Another distinction for the profession in 2011 came with Canadian Living magazine’s compilation of “Canada’s 10 hottest jobs.” Coming in at No. 4: Dentist or dental hygienist.

The magazine reported that “there are currently more job openings than there are qualified people to fill them, in both positions.” It also projected that the “industry will continue to grow as Canada’s aging population requires more care, more Canadians enjoy dental coverage, and the booming demand for adult cosmetic dentistry continues (thank you, Hollywood!).”

Some reader comments on the Canadian Living site challenge the assertions to some degree, while other commenters enthusiastically concur with the findings.

A similar pattern in reader comments can be found on the various sites that picked up the CareerCast ranking. On its site, CareerCast projects the number of dental hygienists in the United States at nearly 240,000 by 2018, a 36-percent increase over approximately 175,000 in 2008.

CareerCast scored jobs based on an extensive rating system within the categories of environment, income, outlook, stress and physical demands.

Making up the list of 12, in order, are: paralegal/legal assistant, accountant, loan officer, market research analyst, software engineer, computer systems analyst, insurance agent, dietician, dental hygienist, civil engineer, physical therapist and chiropractor.

(Sources: CareerCast and Canadians Living)