Objective: To identify factors causing turnover among dental assistants. Method: A qualitative study was carried out. The population of study was dental auxiliary personnel of two clinics in the north and south zones in Bogota, Colombia. Four individual in-person in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. The questionnaire included questions in six categories: personal information, job information, environment and work space, role and relations, motivations and recognitions, and perception. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. After content analysis, findings included the most relevant answers in each category. Results: The study identified four categories working conditions, socialization in the work place, family context and lack of incentives to describe the main reasons of turnover among dental assistants. Conclusions: conditions are the main cause of turnover. Other factors are absence of incentives, poor relations between assistants and supervisors, and difficulty to balance work requirements and family context.