Labor satisfaction and labor conditions in dentists of Cartagena de Indias-Colombia

Objective: to relate job satisfaction with the working condition of dentists in Cartagena-Colombia. Materials and methods: cross-sectional descriptive study in a non-probabilistic sample of 107 general dentists who work in dental centers in 2016. A questionnaire was designed and applied to investigate job satisfaction, sociodemographic variables and working conditions. A descriptive statistic and a test with 95% confidence were performed for the significance of the relationships. Results: 55.1% of dentists felt satisfied at work; Of these, 62.6% reported dissatisfaction with remuneration and 75.7% dissatisfied with labor market conditions. The relationships with statistical significance between job satisfaction and having less than 44 years (p = 0.003), male sex (p = 0.007) and being married (p = 0.038); just like relate working conditions with the duration of the working day (p = 0.016), remuneration received (p = 0.000), labor competence (p = 0.001) and having been unemployed at some time (p = 0.034). Conclusion: the satisfaction of dentists, working conditions and the fulfillment of expectations are related to factors, which generate negative perception results indicating that the dentistry situation is not the best at present. Further studies are recommended to determine the roots of the problem and make government decisions regarding the future.