Dental Hygienist Research Paper

For my senior project I have explored the career of a Dental Hygienist, who is a licensed dental professional who is registered with a dental care association within their country of practice. Their duty is to clean teeth, examine patients for signs and symptoms of oral diseases such as gingivitis, and provide other preventive dental care. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral cavity health. Dental hygienist occupation has many important aspects to their job, which makes it a very rewarding occupation. According to my research dental hygienists is one of the top career choices in America, being so, over the years the career has evolved into a high demanding occupation.

Ever wonder why your dentist doesn’t actually clean your teeth? It’s cause that’s the job of the dental hygienist. They are specialist at keeping your teeth and gums healthy and clean. My goal of becoming a dental hygienist will soon come to pass. All I need is dedication, motivation, ambition, and understanding. This latter element becomes very important when discussing this career field. The most basic elements that one must understand when considering becoming a dental hygienist are threefold; first, I must possess the education requirements that are necessary for admittance to this field. Second, I will discuss the nature of the work,

Dental hygienists play an important role in the dental care facilities since they apply their knowledge on every case by removing tartar, stains, and plaque from teeth. They are in charge of applying sealants and fluorides to the teeth in order to protect them, they take and develop x-rays which helps them determine the patient 's vocal health and then present all this information through a report for the dentists to see. Once they have documented the patient 's care, they begin a treatment plan for each patient. They also educate their patients about the oral health and techniques they should apply and how to brush and floss the teeth accurately. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016-17, p.2) Dental hygienists apply critical thinking, compassion towards their patients, interpersonal skills, and dexterity while on their jobs and are supposed to be very detail oriented since they work on small parts of the body and need precise use of the tolls. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016-17, p.4).

Dental hygienists work hard everyday to inform society about their oral health. Dental hygiene is important when it comes to a healthy mouth. Learning how to maintain good oral health is one of the key factors in successful oral care. Once the proper etiquette is learned, a person is on the next level to a clean and healthy smile! Today, dental hygienists require high training in order to properly use the right and equipment and skills to educate people about good dental hygiene.

2). Statistics show that more than half of the dental hygienists work only part time (“Dental Hygienists” para. 2). Flexibility is also very important because they need to be available for evening and weekend hours at any time (“Dental Hygienist” American para. 7). Hygienists use various types of tools in order to do their job (“Dental Hygienists” para. 10). Some of the tools dental hygienists use are power and ultrasonic tools, air-polishing devices, automatic tooth brush, and x-ray machines (“Dental Hygienists” para. 10). They are required to wear gloves, safety glasses, and surgical masks to protect themselves from any infectious diseases that the patients might have (“Dental Hygienists” para. 14). Dental hygienists clean teeth, examine patients for signs of oral diseases, provide preventive care for teeth, and give patients tips on ways to improve their oral health (“Dental Hygienists” para. 1). The duties of a dental hygienist are, removing stains from teeth, protecting teeth by applying sealant or fluorides, take x-rays, and teach patients oral hygiene techniques (“Dental Hygienists” para. 9). The most a hygienist usually is required to carry is 10 to 20 pounds; they also do a lot of standing and walking (“Dental Hygienist” What’s para.4). Many hygienists can be very successful throughout life. A dental hygienists annual wage as of May 2012 was approximately $70,210 (“Dental Hygienists” para. 4). Only the lowest of about ten

Before beginning dental hygiene school, I pictured dental hygienists as people who are just responsible for cleaning teeth, have flexible work hours, and overall dental hygiene being a good family-oriented career. While all of this accurate, I now have a more thorough and greater understanding of dental hygiene after entering this program. In these past two semesters, my view of a dental hygienist has definitely changed in a positive way. The dental hygienists role is not only to clean teeth, but also play an excessive role in educating patients, building relationships, and preventing and treating oral diseases. The mouth is a basic form of the rest of the body’s health, and dental hygienists have a duty to keep that in mind when evaluating

As oral health providers we share common objectives as employers, managers, and workers and by working together for the well being of the business. Therefore, everyone is involved in taking care of our patient’s oral health as well as keeping the business just as healthy. One way for a dental hygienist to help the business is by creating a dental hygiene profit center (DHPCs) were the hygienist can use their clinical practice and construct a profitable production for the office. Meaning that the hygienist is ultimately responsible for creating the profit on the dental hygiene side and create a stronger profit by identifying what the patient’s needs, and the capacity of what the office can do for them too. According to Mrs. Slim RDH,” a dental

A CPR certification and state license is also needed to work as a dental hygienist in Texas. OOH (2015) A dental hygienist can advance career opportunities if they further their skills and/or education and complete a bachelor’s degree. (Houston Chronicles 2016) Dental hygienist usually make around $37 to $40 per hour, and around $72,330 per year in May 2015. A few skills needed to succeed in this job field would be great communication skills, compassion about what your doing, and being detail oriented. In 2014, the employment of a dental hygienist is projected to increase 19% estimated until the year or 2024. (OOH

Similarly, the salary for a dentist differs from one dentist to another. Dentists who own their own practices can expect to make anywhere from $150,000 a year to possibly even $164,000 or higher over time (Dentists: Salary). Over time pay for dentists in expected to go up since it has been on the rise for the past decade or longer. Dentists in their first year, naturally, will not make the same amount of money as an experienced practicing dentist will (Dentists: Salary). Notably, dentists make much more than many other health care professionals, including pharmacists, registered nurses, dental hygienists, and dental assistants. According to statistics, dentists tend to do better and make more money in certain cities across the United States (Dentists: Salary). Some of these cities include Holland, Michigan, Jacksonville, North Carolina, Nashua, New Hampshire, Rochester, New Hampshire, and Valdosta, Georgia. In all of these cities, dentists make over $250,000 a year (Dentists: Salary).

One of the main reasons for the ADHA’s vision to raise the standard entry-level is to guide dental hygiene towards becoming a more advanced profession. Through increased education dental hygienists have more of an impact on the community, with the ability to expand health care access throughout the country, minimize oral disease instances and continue research towards improved oral health preventative measures. However, in order to expand the scope of practice and become more involved in health-related roles within the public, educational levels must be able to compete with other health care provider’s.

Dental Hygiene is one of the most fastest growing occupations. Employment of dental hygienists is to grow 30 percent through 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations. This growth ranks dental hygienists among the fastest growing occupations, in response to increasing demand for dental care and the greater use of hygienists. The demand for dental services will grow because of population growth, older people increasingly retaining more teeth, and a growing focus on preventative dental care. Job prospects are expected to remain excellent. Older dentists, who have been less likely to employ dental hygienists, are leaving the occupation and will be replaced by recent graduates, who are more likely to employ one or more hygienists.

My interest in dentistry has grown immensely since I’ve started working at a dental office that deals with many patients who may have never had proper oral care or they smoke and chew tobacco along with many other bad habits. The lack of oral hygiene has raised many problems, problems that could have been prevented with just a couple check-ups a year, such as tooth decay, gum recession, bad breath, heart failure, high blood pressure. Deciding to go to school to become a dental hygienist has made me become even more interested and more excited to learn as well as teach other individuals the importance of a healthy mouth. As the old saying says, “Making the world a better place, one smile at a time.”(Unknown)

Becoming a dentist was always my dream and going to a dentistry school is my ideal and long term goal. Although dentistry field is a really high-prestige job, but also involves a lot of studying, hard working, special programs and trainings. Average people’s perspective, specially my own family and the environment that I was raised in, toward this job is that they think it’s a perfect high-paying job with not much working hours, which is not wrong, but their perspective is mostly narrow about this major and that’s usually all they know about this field. According to U.S.News website the average salary of dentists was $172.350 in 2015. However, there are much more requirements for becoming a dentist, and that’s where people are not informed about it. Furthermore, dentistry is a field that is desirable to everyone but not everyone knows much about it. Therefore, it’s essential to explore and speculate about this field, and what dentists’ job includes.

Dentists, dental hygienists, orthodontists, and endontists perform different job duties. For instance, a dental hygienist supports a dentist by administering preventive dental hygiene care, tracking dental conditions, and performing screening procedures such as health history reviews, blood pressure checks, taking x-rays, and making impressions of teeth. In addition, the dental hygienist informs the dentist of any potential problems they have detected and assists during procedures.

When most people think of good health they think of doctors, however dental health can be just as important. Regular dental care can help prevent numerous other illnesses. Dental hygienists are the professionals who teach and aid in taking care of all of your oral hygiene needs. “Dental hygienists clean teeth, examine patients for signs of oral diseases such as gingivitis, and provide other preventative dental care. (“Summary Dental Hygienists”)” Dental hygiene goes way back to the times of the Ancient Egyptians. The educational requirements to become a dental hygienist are short. The minimum education to become a dental hygienist is an associate’s degree.