2011 Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area dental hygiene salaries and benefits

Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area — 33 responses

Total responses for Texas: 88

Average hourly rate for Texas (which include responses from the Dallas/Fort Worth area): $35.76

Average hourly rate for Dallas/Fort Worth Area: $36.74

Average hourly rate for Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2010: $36.12

Differential: $0.62 increase

The most common hourly rates reported were: $38 (31%) and $36 (17%).

Benefits available through employer

• Health insurance, 33%
• Employer contribution towards retirement, 48%
• Paid vacation and holidays, 89%
• Paid sick leave, 56%
• Life insurance, 15%
• Dental insurance, 26%
• Disability insurance, 11%
• CE tuition reimbursement, 41%

Comments about the Dallas/Fort Worth area

• I have never gotten a raise. Some of the dentists in the area are so slow they are doing the prophies themselves and getting rid of their hygienist. My dentist has given us three months and he will either shut down or cut to two or maybe three days per week. I have tried for the last two years to find another job or fill in days and I have had no luck (includes using temp service). We get at least one to two hygienist resumes per week in our office and many more assistant resumes. Patients that were very regular for years are no longer coming in or are very irregular. My dentist only works three days a week and sometimes might only have a handful of patients total; some days he doesn't have a single patient. He has been practicing for 40 yrs.
• I have worked in the same office for 21 years. I have only received raises when I asked for them. We do provide high quality care and are not part of any managed care plans. I was given benefits instead of income for over 10 years and then when I had my daughter five years ago and started working two days a week I lost all benefits and no increase in hourly salary. I was told they could hire someone off the street easily so I should be satisfied with it. I agree: too many dental hygiene programs.
• I have been in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for six years. I have made the same wage since my fourth year practicing as a dental hygienist. I have been a hygienist for 12 years. That is nine years without a pay increase. I know I only work part time, but I work just as hard the days I work as the hygienists that work full time. I am ready to leave the profession. My mother was a hygienist for 35 years. She would only get raises when she left the dental practice she was working at and went to work for someone else.
• Salaries have flat-lined which is evident in that temporary agencies are still paying the same that they did ten years ago, even though fees to patients have increased. The lack of health insurance availability through my employer is a stinker because I have to pay $4200 per year for two kids and myself for a $10,000 deductible plan. That's a HUGE chunk of income, but my only other choice is to be uninsured. Then again, dentists urge patients to ditch their insurance plans all the time.