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Dental Hygienist
The Dental Hygienist is a health care professional who is the only member of the dental health team, other than the dentist, licensed to provide direct care to the patient. The diverse duties of the dental hygienist include oral prophylaxis (cleaning), exposing, processing and mounting radiographs, collecting and evaluating medical history information, performing health and neck screening examinations, and applying agents for the prevention of decay.
Other functions include assessing the condition of the periodontium (gums) and providing periodontal therapy including root planing and curettage, applying desensitizing and antimicrobial agents, and administering local infiltration anesthesia and nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia. The dental hygienist also acts as a dental health educator and is responsible for teaching patients to prevent dental disease and for providing nutritional counseling.
As the work involves contact with the public, the Dental Hygienist must communicate well, have physical stamina, good eyesight and manual skills. The ability to remember details and to teach are also necessary.
The American Dental Hygienists' Association developed the approved requirements for accreditation of dental hygiene programs. A program must have both liberal arts and science content, and didactic and clinical instruction.
Education for dental hygiene can be obtained in a two year certificate course or associate degree program offered at a community college or a vocational-technical school, or the prospective dental hygienist may complete a four year bachelor's degree program at a college or university. A high school diploma is the minimum educational requirement for admission to dental hygiene schools. A two year degree would prepare a student for private practice office work, however, a student wishing to do research, teach or work in school health programs would require at a minimum, a bachelor's degree.
All states require a license to practice dental hygiene. This is obtained by successfully completing both a clinical and written exam, the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination, or a comparable state exam.
- 2 year Associates Degree
- 4 year Bachelors Degree
- Masters Degree
Dental hygiene employment opportunities are numerous. They include general practice and specialty dental offices; federal, state, county and city health clinics; public schools, hospitals, dental schools, industrial clinics, the armed services, and research institutions.
Employment of dental hygienists is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005 in response to increasing demand for dental care. Demand will be stimulated by population growth, greater rentention of natural teeth by middle-aged and elderly people and rising real incomes. Additional job openings will result from the need to replace workers who leave the occupation.
Also, dentists are likely to employ more hygienists, for several reasons. Older dentists, who are less likely to employ dental hygienists, will leave and be replaced by recent graduates, who are more likely to do so. In addition, as dentists’ workloads increase, they are expected to hire more hygienists to perform preventive dental care such as cleaning, so they may use their own time more profitably.
Workers in other occupations supporting health practitioners in an office setting include dental assistants, ophthalmic medical assistants, podiatric assistants, office nurses, medical assistants, and physician assistants.
$51,334
*NATIONAL MEDIAN SALARIES CITED COURTESY OF ONE OF THE FOLLOWING SOURCES:
- UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
- 2003 ASHA Omnibus Survey
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