Dental Assistant Salary in Minnesota: The Highest Published Median in the Country

What dental assistants earn in Minnesota

The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the annual median wage for dental assistants in Minnesota at $65,270, about $31.38 an hour. That is $17,200 above the national median of $48,070. The annual mean is $64,740, $14,540 above the national mean of $50,200.

The spread matters more than the midpoint. In Minnesota the bottom tenth of dental assistants earn about $46,960 a year and the top tenth about $76,110. That is a gap of roughly $29,150, and it is the part of the picture a single average hides. By any standard that is a wide range, and where you sit inside it is largely a function of what you are permitted and trained to do.

BLS counts about 5,980 dental assistants working in Minnesota, out of roughly 387,790 nationally. On the median, Minnesota ranks 1st of the 50 published state and District of Columbia estimates for May 2025. BLS published no estimate for Kansas this year, so 50 is the whole field rather than 51.

Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025 estimates (bls.gov/oes/tables.htm).

What raises it in Minnesota

Minnesota has one of the most developed dental assistant structures in the country, and the reason is the Licensed Dental Assistant. It is a genuine state licence with an accredited education requirement and a national examination behind it, not a registration your employer files for you. Around it sit two other levels: the unlicensed dental assistant at the bottom and the LDA with Collaborative Practice Authorization at the top.

An unlicensed dental assistant needs no education or training. The dentist is responsible for making sure you complete and maintain consecutive and current CPR certification and comply with current infection control practice. What you may do is narrow and mostly under personal supervision, meaning the dentist is operating on the patient while you assist: retracting cheek and tongue, removing debris and water with suction, placing articles and topical medication, and helping place or remove isolation materials. Under direct supervision you may take digital impressions and photographs. Under general supervision an unlicensed assistant may apply fluoride varnish.

Radiography is where the first real decision sits, and Minnesota gives you two doors. Either be a Licensed Dental Assistant, or hold a limited radiology registration. That registration needs a board-approved dental radiology course, a pass on the DANB Radiation Health and Safety examination or another board-approved nationally recognized radiation exam within the last five years, a pass on the Minnesota jurisprudence exam within the last five years, proof of current CPR, a criminal background check, and an application to the Minnesota Board of Dentistry. Note what that means. The limited radiology registration already requires the jurisprudence exam and a national examination, which is most of the administrative work of the LDA licence. If you are going to do that, look hard at whether the full licence is within reach instead.

To become a Licensed Dental Assistant you graduate from a CODA-accredited dental assisting program in Minnesota approved by the board, or from a CODA-accredited program in another state followed by board review of your curriculum and any additional coursework the board requires. Then you pass the national DANB Certified Dental Assistant examination within the past five years, pass the Minnesota Jurisprudence Exam within the past five years, provide proof of current CPR, submit to a criminal background check, and apply to the board.

One recent change is worth knowing. On September 5, 2024 the Minnesota Board of Dentistry approved a rule variance allowing dental assistants to receive the LDA licence without passing Minnesota's Dental Assistant State Licensing Exam, and the board has stated it intends to enact a rule permanently removing that requirement. Confirm the current position with the board before you plan around it.

What the licence buys is the length of the list and, more importantly, the supervision level attached to each item. Under general supervision, with the dentist out of the office, an LDA may take radiographs, take impressions and bite registration, apply topical fluoride including varnish, place temporary fillings, recement intact temporary crowns, cut arch wires, remove loose bands and brackets, place and remove elastic separators, fabricate and deliver custom fitted trays, and complete preliminary charting other than periodontal probing. Under indirect supervision the list adds mechanical polishing of clinical crowns, suture removal, drying root canals, placing and removing periodontal dressings, etching and applying pit and fissure sealants, and monitoring a patient the dentist has induced into nitrous oxide analgesia.

Two add-ons sit on top of the licence. Restorative procedures, limited to placing, contouring and adjusting amalgam, glass ionomer and supragingival composite restorations of classes I, II and V on primary and permanent dentition, and adapting and cementing stainless steel crowns, require a board-approved course in the function with proof of completion filed with the board. Local anesthesia, limited to supraperiosteal and field block injections, requires at least one year of general chairside experience, a board-approved didactic and clinical course at a CODA-accredited program requiring clinical competency, the American Board of Dental Examiners Local Anesthesia Exam or another board-approved national exam, and a certification application to the board. An LDA may also administer nitrous oxide inhalation analgesia under direct supervision once a maximum dosage has been prescribed for a specific patient, which is more than most states allow an assistant to do.

The last rung is the LDA with Collaborative Practice Authorization, and it is what makes Minnesota unusual. Under a collaborative agreement with a dentist, made part of an agreement between that dentist and a dental hygienist, you may work in a health care facility, program or nonprofit without the patient first being examined by a dentist and without the dentist present, taking radiographs, polishing clinical crowns, applying fluoride varnish and sealants, charting, taking vital signs, and obtaining informed consent for authorized treatments. You must document a course on medical emergencies in each continuing education cycle, and a dentist may hold collaborative agreements with no more than two licensed dental assistants unless the board authorizes otherwise.

What experience and setting actually change

Nationally, BLS does publish a wage difference by employer type. Dental assistants in ambulatory health care services, which is where nearly all of them work, average $50,050 a year. Those working in hospitals average $54,860, and those in government settings average $56,640. Those are national figures, not Minnesota figures, and the government and hospital groups are small enough that you should read them as a hint, not a promise.

BLS does not publish wages by years of experience, and it does not publish a separate wage for assistants who hold a particular state permit. Anyone who gives you a precise number for either is estimating. What the percentile spread above does tell you is that the top of the range in Minnesota is real and someone is being paid it.

What to do next

If you are not yet licensed, compare the limited radiology registration against full LDA licensure, since the registration already requires the Minnesota jurisprudence exam and a national radiation examination.

Confirm with the Minnesota Board of Dentistry whether the Dental Assistant State Licensing Exam requirement has been permanently removed, and ask which board-approved courses currently cover the restorative and local anesthesia add-ons.

If you are not working in Minnesota yet, start with How to Become a Dental Assistant in Minnesota, which covers what the state lets you do on day one and what you have to earn before you can do more. For the national picture and the levers that apply everywhere, see How Much Do Dental Assistants Make?.

Common questions