Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to 1,861 members of the Australian Dental and Oral Health Therapists’ Association and the Dental Hygienists’ Association of Australia in 2013. Items included job satisfaction, clinical scope, collegiality along with characteristics such as age, hours worked, sector of employment, length of service, number of years qualified, team size and number of practitioners in the clinic.
Results: Responses were received from 1,084 practitioners, of whom 1,034 were practising (297 Oral health therapists (OHTs); 297 dental therapists (DTs); and 440 dental hygienists (DHs)). There were no significant differences in the levels of job satisfaction across the three groups. Bivariate associations between job satisfaction and age group were found for DHs and DTs only. Length of service and number of years qualified were associated with satisfaction for DHs. Results of multiple regression analyses by practitioner group showed that practitioner characteristics accounted for between 0% and 3% of the variance in job satisfaction. Clinical scope and collegiality had the strongest association with satisfaction, accounting for 47% of the variance for DTs and DHs, and 50% for OHTs.
Conclusion: Workplaces that encourage oral health practitioners to utilise their full range of skills, as well as making them an integral part of the dental team, are likely to maintain high levels of job satisfaction.