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Dental Hygienist Jobs and How to Get Them
Posted by | Posted in Dental Health | Posted on 27-05-2010
If you are someone who wants to get involved with a fun and challenging career in a busy office, particularly a career that you know will still be there and in high demand in the years to come, you should take a look at getting a dental hygienist job. A dental hygienist is someone who will take on duties that include cleaning and polishing teeth, instructing and explaining good dental hygiene to dental patients and thinking about working with some other preventative dental care. In many cases, they will also work alongside the dentists during routine examinations and other treatments.
What kind of education does it take to get a dental hygiene job?
No matter what you are interested in, you will find that there is some training involved. When you want to become a dental hygienist, remember that you are going to need a high school diploma or a GED to get you into a dental hygiene program. For many of the schools that offer certification in this field, a year of college is also necessary. Most of these schools will grant an associate degree while some others will only see you graduating with a certificate.
Of course you can always go further and get a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, which can only help your employability! If you want to work in research facilities or in clinics or public school programs, you will find that advanced education is necessary.
Though I have broadly outlined the duties of a dental hygienist, remember that that is far from all. When you want to get a job working as a hygienist, remember that there are other duties that you need to undertake as well. As you might guess, you will find that you need to do things like take X-rays, remove sutures, polish fillings, work with metal restorations, record medical histories and even make molds for crowns and for other dental prosthetics.
When you are ready to look for a good dental hygienist job, remember that you will frequently only be required to work part time for a dental office. Some hygienists will solve this problem by working only a few days a week or by splitting their time between a few different agencies. One of the perks of the job is definitely having a schedule that you can manipulate as you please and more time spent out of the office than in it if that is what you want to do.
Remember that the more experience you bring to the table, the better. Some dental hygiene employees will also function as office workers and lab assistants, depending on what you need to do. Also make sure that you know what types of work your state allows dental hygienists to do.
Take some time and really consider where doing dental hygienist work will get you. If this is a career that appeals to you, there are many ways to get into it and to be happy with your choice! Take the time to do more research on the internet by visiting websites that cover the profession in more detail.
Note: You are free to reprint or republish this article. The only condition is that the links should be clickable.
Watch the video related to dental hygienist
NBC24 features the Owens Community College Dental Hygiene Program on Get A Job Monday. A Dental Hygienist is a preventive oral health professional licensed to provide educational, clinical and therapeutic services to the dental consumer. The Dental Hygiene Program provides a scientifically current, competency-based curriculum focusing on mental, psychomotor, and affective education, which is essential to become a competent Dental Hygienist. Students also receive instruction and hands-on experience in restorative dentistry, including placement and finishing of dental restorations. While each state has its own specific regulations governing the dental hygienist’s responsibilities, typical services provided in Ohio include: scaling and polishing teeth, taking and developing dental radiographs (x-rays), patient screening procedures, applying preventive materials such as sealants and fluorides, taking impressions for study models, nutritional counseling, and teaching oral hygiene techniques. For more information, call Owens Community College at (567) 661-7206 or go to www.owens.edu.
Help answer the question about dental hygienist
Can a dental hygienist tell a dentist to put on clean gloves?If a dental hygienist notices that a dentist forgot to put on a fresh pair of gloves between patients, would it be okay for her to say something to the dentist (in front of the patient)? What would be the best way to solve this problem? The dentist has done this on occasion before.
As a dental hygienist of 15 years I can say I definately wouldn't choose to change my career. The pay is great, but that isn't really the best part of what I do. What I really enjoy the most is being respected medical professional that has the opportunity to make a genuine impact in my patient's lives. You can educate a person so that they can take better care of themself, or save them from a problem that is already present (like oral cancer). You might get to see a family grow (or grow up) if you are in a practice for a long enough time and may become the reason why the come to the office even though they are fearful. You might be part of a team that you look forward to working with. The opportunities to go out and help in the community (like talking with a group of girl scouts or at a school fair) are endless.
I graduated 15 years ago and the schooling is intense, but I also managed to work and have a boyfriend (who became my husband between the 1st and 2nd year). I just graduated this May with my Bachelor's degree, though many hygienists just get their Associate's so they can begin working to pay off their bills. You can furthur your education (from an associate's degree to a bachelor's) and teach at the college level, work as a sales rep or be involved in research. My flexibility with my schedule at work has allowed me to raise a family and go back to school for my bachelor's degree. My employer helps pay for uniforms and continuing education along with retirement and vacation benefits. It is best to be physically fit for this job. I could go on and on, but if you think this may be the career for you it might be a good time to ask your dentist if you could spend some time at the office and see what it is like. I currently have a high school junior shadowing me on Fridays…If you can't shadow during the week many offices are open Saturdays or nights!
Hope that helps!
JAMRDH – a dental hygienist
To make is easier, I have copied ad pasted your questions and will answer them individually:
I have a B.S. in psychology, do I need a degree in a science related field in order to GET a job as a dental hygienist? No – any BS will work, but you must have specific courses prior to enrolling in a hygiene program. Check with the school you want to attend for the required pre-reqs.
Is passing the state exam enough to get hired as a DH? Almost… you also must have a likable personality, be professional in attire, attitude, presentation, care about patients, and be willing to be a team player in a dental office.
What exactly are dentist's looking for when they hire a DH? A professional who really cares about BOTH the patients and the business, team player (helps others), never says "that's not my job", works quickly with excellent results, detailed in the dental procedures, clean, neat, personable with patients, and can stay on schedule.
What do I need to do to get a job after I finish DH schooling? Begin interviewing. Most newspapers have listings in the employment section. Also, dentaljobs.com dentalwaorkers.com and other on-line employment sections help connect you with potential employers.
Is it hard to be accepted in the DH program? Hard – not exactly, but it is competitive. They usually enroll based upon a point system. GPA earns points, volunteering in a dental office, previous work as a dental assistant, reference letter from a dentist or hygienist saying you would be good at it, and other items. Since enrollment is limited, they choose the ones they feel will be best fitted for the profession.
How hard is the schooling, state tests, etc? Hard. If you study study study, then you should do fine.
Should I have dental experience (assisting, receptionist) in a dental office? It helps – in applying for school, learning how the office functions as a team, and with terminology. The more exposure you have, the better off you will be.
Good Luck!
Just get the phone book out and call an office. Explain that you are or may be going to school for dental hygiene and would like to know more about the field first hand. Many dentists would be happy to have you shadow in their office. ALSO DENTAL HYGIENE AND DENTAL ASSISTING ARE NOT THE SAME THING. An assistant works w/ the dentist chair side and "assists" w/ all dental procedures a dentist preforms. A dental hygienists works alone chair side in an area of the dental field known as preventative dentistry.
haha cool. my boyfriends mom is a dental hygienist
Ha! Dental Hygienists dont look for cavities! Worst yet, not one mention of periodontal disease,gum health, or CALCULUS (not “plaque”)removal…um, scalers?! “Mr. Thirsty” and , I dont want to work that many hours. Lord you make us look bad. The field of DH is long, strenuous, demanding hours. Any lovelies out there wanting to have the letters RDH attached to your name, please DONT take this vid seriously!! Love my job..but its a bitch sometimes..and for GODS SAKE we do not diagnose disease!
First you have to pick a career because you feel comfortable in doing the work, not because of the money. There is nothing more uncomfortable about doing something you don't like and feel bored because the money is good. There are so many more opportunities out there where the work is always in high demand and pays very good, that one is in the medical field, nurses are always in high demand at a very good wage any place you decide to live in the future.
You've asked quite a bit; so here it goes-
First, you need to get away from the dental hygiene program only being 2 years. With all of the general educational requirements- you are looking at about 3.5 years. This is the norm for most of your medical AS degreed programs because of the demand for the classes. If your program is like the one I am in, they will list some of the general education classes in the class schedules that they lay out for each semester with the concentration being on the dental hygiene courses. I was strongly informed that they would not consider my application unless I had all of my science requirements out of the way.
As for the high school transcript- call your high schools administrative office and they should be able to help.
Most schools will not look at the ACT, they will go by your GPA on the required classes. Keep your GPA up as high as possible- they will rank you on it. I know of people that have retaken some classes in order to boost the GPA to the accepted levels. When I applied I had to have a 3.5 or better.
Check into your schools website- I found all of their requirements were listed on there. I followed the guidelines and was accepted on the 1st try.
Been in there for a month now and love it so far.
Good Luck to you.
Hopefully this helps.
What they did in my case is they looked at all of my college transcripts- They specifically singled out my English, Math, all sciences, Sociology, Psycology and two electives. What they did is ranked them by points- A=4, B=3, C=2, and D=1. This is how some schools will evaluate you, I have also heard that some will only go by the GPA being at a certain level or if you have anything lower that a B in the critical courses (sciences) they will not consider you.
They also went back and looked specifically at the sciences to see what scores I received in them and how long ago I took them.
My advice to you is to check your schools website for the dental hygiene program. They should have listed how many general education hours and how many dental hygiene hours you need in order to graduate.
Your gen eds could include, Biology, English, Communication/Speech, Math/Algebra, and Psycology. You might also have some misc electives that are required, but they give you a choice on what classes to take- ex. Intro to Music, or Art Appreciation.
These are the classes that I would start out with. Then move on to your required sciences like A&P I/II, Chemistry and Microbiology. While you might be able to take them in the program, some instructors will advise you to get them out of the way because the dental hygiene courses will be very demanding with out added classes that are lab/study and labor intensive.
Good Luck again.
Just think about it this way: there are a lot worse things you could be dealing with in the medical field besides mouths. A lot.
My best friend is a DH and she loves it. The DH programs are highly competitive and the coursework is intense. You have to be very committed to it and disciplined. But it's definitely do-able.
I really recommend that you job shadow a hygienist to get a better idea of their typical day. Plus they could give you all kinds of information on how it really is, both in school and out in the field.
Good luck
For general career info: http://www.bls.gov/oco and can search 'dental hygienists' or such.
Info from ADA: http://www.ada.org and can click 'careers in dentistry' and then 'dental team careers' or such.
Please make sure that the program is accredited by the ADA, and each program may have slightly different prereq's and requirements so it's best to check with the individual school regarding that.