Career Explorer
Job Description
Dental Hygienists perform oral health assessments, provide nutritional counseling, and promote self-care programs to prevent oral disease. In addition, they provide treatment to the patient to include cleaning the teeth and placing dental sealants.
A person in this career:
- Instructs patients on preventive homecare
- Processes X-rays and prepare diagnostic aids
- Removes deposits from teeth and applies sealants and fluoride to prevent decay
- Performs oral cancer and blood pressure screenings
- Places and removes temporary fillings, removes periodontal dressings, and removes sutures
- Administers medication prescribed by dentist
- Records oral conditions
- May administer CPR
Working Conditions and Physical Demands:
- Physical abilities sufficient to move around rooms in the dental environment
- Maneuver in small places
- Work in enclosed spaces
- Sit and work chair side for long periods, reaching for equipment
- Interact with individuals, families, and groups from a variety of social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds
- Use sharp hand instruments requiring repetitive, coordinated hand movements
- Utilize hands, wrists, neck, shoulders, and back for at least eight hours per day
Working in this career involves:
- Communicating clearly enough to be able to be understood by others and understand them
- Seeing clearly enough to see fine details
- Hearing a variety of sounds at various pitches, with background noise present
Work Hours and Travel
Regular working hours and limited travel
Salary Information
Career at a Glance
Salary Range
$57,200 to $74,526
Skills Needed
Enjoy working with people
Enjoy hands-on patient care
Good problem solving and communication skills
Organized and motivated
Job Duties
Performs oral health assessments
Takes and process dental X-rays
Provides self–care programs to prevent disease
Provide treatment to patients to include cleaning teeth and placing sealants
Work Locations
Dental offices
Public health departments
Hospitals
Dental clinics
Connect with Wake Tech
Wake Tech eNewsWake Tech on Facebook
Wake Tech on Twitter
Wake Tech on LinkedIn
Wake Tech on Flickr
Wake Tech on YouTube
Wake Tech on Instagram
Wake Tech on the Go
Wake Tech Apple AppWake Tech Android App