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