Dental Hygienist!
Help patients keep their teeth & gums clean and disease free
Requirements
Dental Hygienist's typically need an associates degree in dental hygiene, which only requires 2 or less years of college. Then they can enroll in dental hygiene programs. Each state requires dental hygienists to be licensed. To be licensed, a degree from a dental hygienist program is required and passing written and clinical exams. Then you can become a dental hygienist at a clinic. The skills needed for this job are to be compassionate, detail orientated, and have skills in communication, active listening, critical thinking, judgement and decision making, service orientation and science. Some job advancement in this career requires getting more education and getting a bachelors or masters degree in Dental Hygiene. Which lead to advancement opportunity's in working in public health, teaching a dental hygiene program or working in a corporate setting or take supervisory job.
Basic Dental Hygienist information
Dental Hygienist clean teeth, examine patients for signs of oral diseases and provide other dental care. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral health. They remove tater, stains and plaque from teeth, apply sealants and fluorides to help protect teeth, take and develop dental x-rays, keep track of patient care and treatment plans, and teach patients proper oral hygiene techniques. Their job outlook is high. Employment of dental hygienist is projected to grow 33% from 2012-2022. As their practices expand, dentist will hire more hygienist to preform routine dental care, allowing dentist to see more patient. The median annual wage for Dental Hygienist is $70,201.
A day of being a Dental Hygienist
I personally wanna go into this career because doing something in the medical field has always interested me, and cause I like learning about the teeth. I also enjoyed seeing what a dental hygienist does, when I had the opportunity to job shadowed them. Also, they have a very flexible schedule and a good salary. What typically people may not know about dental hygienists is that they can help out dentist in certain surgery's by assisting them. A day of being a dental hygienist looks like: they work in clinical practices where they treat one patient each hour during an eight hour course. First, they review the patients chart, looking at their medical history and past appointment details before examining the patient. Then they call the patient in and greet them, making them feel comfortable and clean their teeth, removing tarter and checking for gum diseases and taking x-rays if needed. They repeat these steps among each patient.
FAQ
What sort of training do you need?
- Dental Hygienist's typically need an associates degree in dental hygiene, which only requires 2 or less years of college. Then they can enroll in dental hygiene programs. Each state requires dental hygienists to be licensed. To be licensed, a degree from a dental hygienist program is required and passing written and clinical exams. Then you can become a dental hygienist at a clinic.
What sort of skills do you need?
- The skills needed for this job are to compassionate, detail orientated, and have skills in communication, active listening, critical thinking, judgement and decision making, service orientation and science.
Is there any room for job advancement?
- Some job advancement in this career requires getting more education and getting a bachelors or masters degree in Dental Hygiene. Which lead to advancement opportunists in working in public health, teaching a dental hygiene program or working in a corporate setting or take supervisory job.
What is all involved with this career?
- Dental Hygienist clean teeth, examine patients for signs of oral diseases and provide other dental care. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral health. They remove tater, stains and plaque from teeth, apply sealants and fluorides to help protect teeth, take and develop dental x-rays, keep track of patient care and treatment plans, and teach patients proper oral hygiene techniques.
What is the job outlook and salary?
- Their job outlook is high. Employment of dental hygienist is projected to grow 33% from 2012-2022. As their practices expand, dentist will hire more hygienist to preform routine dental care, allowing dentist to see more patient. The median annual wage for Dental Hygienist is $70,201.
Why do you want to go into this career?
- I personally wanna go into this career because doing something in the medical field has always interested me, and cause I like learning about the teeth. I also enjoyed seeing what a dental hygienist does, when I had the opportunity to job shadowed them. Also, they have a very flexible schedule and a good salary.
What might people not know about this career?
- What typically people may not know about dental hygienists is that they can help out dentist in certain surgery's by assisting them.
What does a day in the life of this career look like?
- A day of being a dental hygienist looks like: they work in clinical practices where they treat one patient each hour during an eight hour course. First, they review the patients chart, looking at their medical history and past appointment details before examining the patient. Then they call the patient in and greet them, making them feel comfortable and clean their teeth, removing tarter and checking for gum diseases and taking x-rays if needed. They repeat these steps among each patient.