This paper presents definitions of job satisfaction from organizational theory, and a review of the dental hygiene literature on job satisfaction. Most studies of dental hygienists have used one or two global measures of satisfaction. Very few studies have used dimensional measures of satisfaction; and those that have, have not used identical measures. The studies--which measured satisfaction in a variety of ways and quantified dental hygienists' satisfaction in terms of percent satisfied--established that between 70% and 99% of dental hygienists are satisfied with their jobs.