What Is A Dental Hygienist?

If you have ever made a trip to the dentist, the odds are that you have come into contact with a dental hygienist. In fact most of your time spent in the dentist’s chair will actually mean that it is the hygienist who is working on you and not the actual dentist, whether you are having a filling put in or just a routine check up. Many people have also found a career as a dental hygienist to be a satisfying one both professionally and monetarily, with the average hygienist in Canada making around $30 per hour. Let’s take a look at the finer points of what a dental hygienist is.

Education

In order to make that kind of money in what is essentially a health care industry; a dental hygienist has to be well qualified. This means they must earn a degree from an accredited dental hygienist school. Most hygienists only qualify for entry into these schools after fulfilling specific science prerequisites at lower levels of education, so it can mean four or five years before a hygienist is qualified.

Duties and roles

Once a hygienist has received the (usually) two year degree from an accredited school, there are several places of possible employment. As mentioned, dentist offices are the most common places to find hygienists, but they also work for oral surgeons and orthodontists as well. There are also hygienists that are licensed to practice outside of the supervision of dental specialists.

As far as actual workloads, dental hygienists are called upon to perform several duties. These duties fall under the hygiene process of care, which includes five steps:

Assessment occurs when the hygienist gathers data about a patient.

Dental hygiene diagnosis is when the data is put into a general idea of the oral health of the patient.

Planning happens when the hygienist formulates a proposal to address any diagnostic problems.

Implementation is when the plan is carried out.

Evaluation is when the plan is monitored and addressed in terms of effectiveness.

For the most part, the actual duties that dental hygienists are allowed to carry out are regulated at the local level. Usually they include cleaning, scaling, planning, and radiographing. And of course there is always a certain amount of patient interaction with your dental hygienist, so most are friendly people!

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