One Day at a Time - 1975 The Dental Hygienist 4-19 was released on: USA: 14 February 1979
Becoming a dental hygienist is a great job for anyone looking for a permanent career, or a flexible job that leaves time to pursue other opportunities. Dental Hygienists can work full time, part-time, evenings and on weekends. They generally work in private dental offices, hospitals or public health organizations. To become a dental hygienist, one must enroll in a dental hygienist program at an accredited school. Most community colleges offer a two year program that results in an Associate’s degree, a four year program at a university where you will obtain a bachelor’s degree, or you can advance further and obtain a master’s degree. Courses for the dental hygienist focus primarily in the sciences. Anatomy, physiology, biology, chemistry, microbiology, pathology and nutrition are all required to graduate from both the two and four year program. However, with a higher degree, you will take more courses in the humanities, such as psychology and sociology. Obtaining a bachelor’s or master’s degree will allow you even more opportunities for advancement in this career. If you are seeking dental hygienist jobs in the public sector, you will most likely be required to have a bachelor’s degree. These jobs are great for the career-minded person because you will have more stability and they generally provide better benefits than a private dental office. Additionally, with a more advanced degree, you can conduct research and teach in a dental hygienist program. Once you have successfully graduated from the dental hygienist program, you will be required by whatever state you wish to practice in to take written and clinical exams to obtain a license. Most states also require you to take the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination and an examination on the legalities of being a hygienist. Dental hygienists work directly with the patients to teach them about proper oral health care and ways to prevent diseases and infections to their teeth and gums. Other duties include removing plaque and tartar, inspecting patients’ mouth and neck for signs of infection and disease, applying sealants to prevent cavities, performing x-rays on patients, installing fillings, and sometimes administering anesthetics. The starting salary of a dental hygienist ranges from $20,000.00 to $30,000.00. The average salary of a more experienced hygienist ranges from $57,000.00 to $74,000.00.
In Southern California, the going rate is $400 per day which is equivalent to $50 p/hour. Don't go lower than that girls!!..or gentlemen :)
If you’re considering a career as a dental hygienist, you should know you’d be getting into one of the fastest-growing careers in today’s job market. Surveys rank dental hygiene in the top 30 occupations in terms of growth, and it is moving up. It’s a well-paid career as well, with the average hygienist making a salary of upwards of $70,000 per year. Most hygienists work for multiple dentists on an hourly rate ranging from around $30 to $40 per hour. Others work in community dental clinics and at university health centers. So, why is this field booming and how does its growth impact the kind of dental hygienist training you’ll need to enter the field? If your grandparents are still with us, ask them what dental care was like, “back in the day.” They’ll tell you most people only went to a dentist when they absolutely had to – like for a toothache that just wouldn’t get better. Dentists back then principally pulled teeth and filled cavities. Orthodontics was in its infancy and a highly expensive endeavor available only to the wealthy. Employer provided dental insurance was a rarity. The concept of preventive dental care was barely getting out of the gate, spurred by fluoridation. Today dental technology has exploded, and modern dentists have a multitude of new tools and techniques available to them. Preventive dental care is now at the forefront of dentistry and literally tens of thousands of people now have dental coverage. Consequently many dentists no longer have the time nor the desire to perform some of the more routine preventive dental procedures, like prophylaxis – teeth cleaning – or periodontal scaling. In ever increasing numbers, they are bringing in dental hygienists to perform these functions. In the near future, as more and more older dentists who prefer to reserve these procedures for themselves retire, the demand for dental hygienists will grow even more. The implications of this trend for dental hygienist training may not be immediately obvious. It’s a “sellers market” for dental hygienist services – meaning the demand for hygienists is greater than the available supply. When the situation was reversed – when the demand for dental hygienists was low, the type of training a potential hygienist had was a bigger factor. Again, “back in the day” if you lived in Illinois and wanted to get into the field, you would get a huge competitive advantage if you got your dental hygienist training at the dental school of the University of Illinois at Chicago, or at Northwestern University. Today, you have a whole new set of options available to you. Many community colleges offer two year associate degree programs in dental hygiene which will prepare you to pass the licensing test and are more than sufficient to compete in today’s job market.
A dental hygienist is a licensed oral health prevention specialist. They go to school anywhere from 3-5 years and must earn a minimum of an associate's degree, but many earn their bachelor's or master's degree in dental hygiene. A typical day for a dental hygienist would involve seeing about 8-10 patients. Several of those patients will be coming in for their regular 4 or 6 month cleaning and check-up and the dental hygienist (or RDH) will review their medical history, take necessary x-rays, screen for oral cancer, screen for periodontal disease, screen for decay and dental diseases and then scale and polish the teeth. They will provide you with customized oral health care instructions (such as: "you need to floss more"), often times they will do a professional fluoride treatment and then they will inform the dentist of their findings while the dentist examines your teeth. The RDH also treats early to moderate cases of periodontal disease (gum disease) with non-surgical periodontal therapy (scaling and root planing). In many states the RDH is trained and licensed to give local anesthesia (injections) to make this procedure much more comfortable for the patient. Often times, the RDH is the unofficial "periodontal disease" specialist in each general dental practice. RDHs can also place sealants and in some states with additional education, they can place small fillings. Most dental hygienists are employed by general dentists, cosmetic dentists, pediatric dentists, or periodontists (gum and bone specialists). In some states, with additional education a RDH can own her own practice, or practice in limited access situations independently from the dentist. Plus in some states, RDHs can now be a public health hygienist which involves performing general check-ups, cleanings, fluoride tx, and sealants to underprivileged children in schools and clinics without being in a dentist's practice or working with a dentist. Also nursing homes.
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A typical day for a dental hygienest would be cleaning peoples gums and teeth, taking a couple X-rays, and teaching the patient how to take good care of their teeth. Usualy dental hygienest are working in the room with the dentist as well
he would probably earn £5000
Periodontists, general dentists or a licensed hygienist can do it. Periodontists are the type of dentists that specialize in the supporting structures of teeth (gums and bone), and usually have the most knowledge and experience for "deep cleanings" and any other procedure related to gums/bone/periodontal condition. However, every general dentist should be able to do a deep cleaning, since it is a normal part of dental school training. Of course dental hygienist do it every day too.
it really depends
Doctors see roughly 80 patients a week, which means they see (on average) 41060 patients a year.
Brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and flossing daily can help remove plaque from your teeth. Additionally, using an antiseptic mouthwash can also help reduce plaque buildup. Regular dental cleanings by a professional dentist or dental hygienist are also important for removing plaque that you may have missed.