Dental hygienist job description are an important part of the dental healthcare team. There are a variety of occupations available for dental hygienists.
They have the ability to work in private dental offices, specialty clinics, public health agencies, hospitals, community health clinics, public school systems, dental schools, dental hygiene education programs, research, and dental equipment and product sales.
The dental hygienist job description includes duties such as cleaning and maintaining teeth, educating patients in methods of proper oral care, instructing patients in postoperative care, removing sutures, taking x rays, charting dental records. Dental hygienist job description also includes removing tartar from teeth, performing root planing procedures, and applying sealants and fluorides to teeth.
More advance duties within the dental hygienist job description include the removal of excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth, the application of teeth whitening treatments, and make impressions for study casts. Other advanced duties may include administering local anesthetics, placing and removing protective rubber dams, and finish amalgam restorations.
Routine tasks may include some of the following:
- Direct patient care
- Laboratory duties
- Sterilizing equipment
- Receiving patients
- Maintaining dental records
- Processing bills for payment
Skills of a Dental Hygienist Job Description
A dental hygienist job description contains a set of skills necessary for success in the dental field. These skills include critical thinking, active listening, problem solving, time management, coordination, instruction, writing, and social perceptiveness. The meaning of each is as follows:
- Critical Thinking – a dental hygienist needs to be able to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Active Listening – a dental hygienist needs to be able to listen closely to others, give their full attention to others, take time to understand what is being said, asking appropriate questions, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Problem Solving – a dental hygienist needs to be able to recognize signs of potential problems, be able to think things through, be able to pay close attention to detail, and be able to solve problems as they arise.
- Time Management – a dental hygienist needs to be able to manage their own time as well as the time of others.
- Coordination – a dental hygienist needs to be able to coordinate activities and responsibilities.
- Instruction – a dental hygienist needs to be able to educate patients on proper oral care management.
- Writing – a dental hygienist needs to be able to communicate effectively in writing, prepare written reports, and prepare written communications.
- Social Perceptiveness – a dental hygienist needs to be aware of other’s reactions, aware of the needs of patients, and aware of the needs of dentists.
Education Requirements of a Dental Hygienist Job Description
The minimum educational
requirement included in a dental hygienist job description
is an Associate’s degree. Some dental hygienists may wish to further their education by pursuing either a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree. By obtaining a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree, they have the opportunity to work in dental hygienist job description education or dental research occupations.
You will be able to help with procedures such as San Diego veneers or root canals.
After graduating for a dental hygienist training and if you already decided to look for a job, it is advisable that you know the dental hygienist job description.
Knowing what to expect on the interview or what to do on daily basis while at work when hired will help you save time and keep you on track.
There could be number of tasks a dental hygienist do such as teeth cleaning or oral prophylaxis, simple check up for signs or symptoms of any present oral diseases and other types of oral or dental concerns the patients may have.
Certified or registered dental hygienist only does these types of duties.
Other employers may put a
very detailed dental hygienist job description
or will include certain types of duties they need you to perform when the dentist is out. You may even do all of the dentist’s duty on his or her behalf when they are in a meeting or attending another patient.
Aside from that, you may also be responsible in making sure that all patients are kept calm and comfortable during consultation and operation.
These includes giving and taking the customer or patients information, preparing them on the next process they need to go through after consultation and even preparing the materials and medicines needed for surgical operations making sure that they are available when needed by the dentist.
Dental hygienist job description may also consist of preparing solutions or creating compounds for dental operations, dental grooming and even getting X-rays results. All of these should have been taught while on training at school and are all expected to be well executed while on duty.
Methods and procedures should be followed extensively when doing preparations or helping the attending dentist on the operations. Standard operating procedures are needed to be observed at all times. You also need to make sure that necessary equipments and materials needed for any types of operations and procedures are well sanitized and sterilized.
Dental Hygienist Job Description – Encompasses Many Duties
On top of that, a dental hygienist job description will also require the applicants to be aware with all types of oral diseases and its signs and symptoms, including their causes, prevention and all precautionary measures to avoid them.
You should have undergone extensive training as well on how to use all type of dental tools, familiarization with different dental charts and equipments. These may be plenty but you get to enjoy them doing every day as you get to know and meet new patient everyday on top with a higher pay for very happy patients that you have.
