Rough Draft
When is the last time you looked in the mirror and admired your beautiful smile? You can thank a dental hygienist for that. Dental hygienist are crucial to providing a high quality of healthcare as they assist with cleaning teeth and emphasising the importance of good oral care after earning a technical certificate.
One of the major jobs of being a dental hygienist involves being able to work with people. Children do not understand the importance of keeping their teeth clean so they explain to them. Being a dental hygienist means knowing the importance of dental care and being able of explaining how to do it. They watch over a patients teeth and gums, and write notes about problems they notice. They clean, polish, and floss a patients
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They often offer suggestions on dental care. The infusion of technology in the dental hygiene profession can be seen all around a dental office– from examining patients’ records and digital X-rays on the laptop, to studying a new medication a patient is taking, to showing a YouTube video on proper flossing techniques on your iPad. The incorporation of technology in dentistry has improved the way we help our patients, and we have begun to notice the results. (Health Care #)
The flexibility of the work schedule is appealing to dental hygienists, who often schedule hours to meet family obligations or other personal interests. “Nationally, just 47% of dental hygienists work 30 to 40 hours a week.” Dental hygienists must be able to perform all requirements to be a dental hygienist. A doctor with certain skeletal conditions may have problems performing the daily jobs required of a dental hygienist. These include, but are not limited to, injuries to the neck, back, shoulder, elbow, wrist, or hands. Examples include the following, hernias or bulging disks,
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Continuous research linking oral health and general health will spur the demand for preventative dental services, which are usually by dental hygienists. Most of the 183,000 or more registered dental hygienists work in dental offices with regular dentists. They will normally see a patient first and clean the patient’s teeth. They remove tartar, stains and plaque as they brush, floss and scrape. Dental hygienists are involved in helping patients on the best ways to brush and floss teeth, as well as the best products to use on their teeth. Even with all their technical skills and classes they took, dental hygienists need to be excellent communicators. “ The client’s head is in their lap basically,” Swanson Jaecks says. “They should know how to read a client and relate to a client.” She also says that good hand-eye coordination is a necessity, and so are the critical-thinking skills, since dental hygienists are on the front lines of a client’s oral health. (Dental Hygienist Association PG. 103)
Dental hygienists usually make feasible salaries especially since more than half of them only work part time. In 2012, the average salary for dental hygienists was $73,100. The best-paid dental hygienists earned about $98,420, and the bottom 8 percent earned $45,620. Most of the high end hygienists work in dental offices, but ambulatory health care services
Dental hygiene is amongst many professions that come with an increased risk of injury. In fact, evidence suggests that the incidence of dental professionals acquiring musculoskeletal disorders is reaching 96%. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), these complications are a result of “repetitive motion or awkward posture for more than 2 hours at a time, unassisted frequent manual handling (eg, scaling an area using the same strokes), and unassisted forced manual handling (eg, heavy calculus removal using hand-activated instruments)”. These complications not only affect the quality of life for the
Some people tend to believe that a dentist is all about pulling teeth, filling gaps, and drilling holes in a mouth. That may be true, but this is more about the person that treats a patient prior to a dentist drilling into a mouth. Dental Hygienists provide more than just the basic examination. They also give advice on how to properly brush and floss, the types of foods to avoid, and give examples of what teeth could look like if not taken care of correctly. A dental hygienist provides preventive, therapeutic, restorative and educational interventions to promote optimal oral health.
As I started my new journey of becoming a dental hygienist, I came into the program with no background of dental. I came into this program with an open mind and willing to embrace new concepts as well as develop new skills. During my time at the Canadian Academy of Dental Hygiene (CADH), I learned that as a dental hygienist that I am committed to promoting and helping each individual achieve their optimal oral health goals. In support of my client’s goals, I may assume any or all of the roles included in the dental hygiene scope of practice. My goal throughout this program was to help my clients achieve their optimal oral health goals through education, health promotion and providing preventive and clinical therapy.
The best description of a dental hygienist is a professional whose main job is to teach their patients necessary oral hygiene skills and provide great dental care. They perform various tasks around a dentist’s office such as applying fluoride treatments, removing plaque and stains, taking x-rays, removing sutures, placing temporary fillings, and evaluating the patient’s overall health (“Dental Hygienist” Coin Career). Dental hygienists do not just work in a dental office, but they also can work at schools, nursing homes, health clinics, and many other dental settings. Close contact is necessary when doing this job. Working with people is an everyday thing in this profession, so one must be able to communicate and get along with their clients very well. Having certain traits such as excellent hand-eye coordination and great motor skills are very important to posses since dental hygienists work on their patients mouths (Porterfield 4). Communication is vital since dental hygienists are constantly teaching patients how to hav...
Having shadowed a dental hygienist prior to that of a dental assistant I didn’t know what to expect their job to be. Although I did assume a dental assistant’s job consisted of handing instruments to the doctor during the various procedures so I was surprised to see just how many responsibilities they have. Each dental clinic has different expectations of what they require their dental assistant to do in my shadowing experience they were responsible for: preparing the room prior to the patients arrival, greeting the patient upon arrival and inviting them into the operation room, confirming dental history with the patient, briefing them on the procedure they are about to have and what to expect, answering the clients questions to the best of their abilities, assisting the doctor in the procedure and aiding with any tasks required of you, when the patient is ready to leave helping them to look presentable and explaining what to expect after that kind of procedure, updating and verifying dental records, and sanitizing and sterilization of the room and all instruments after departure of
It’s been a long time since the last narrative and a lot has changed. The internship with the dental hygienist failed miserably. After three sessions, my mentor just stopped communicating and cut all ties with me. I attempted to email her multiple times but I remained unheard. So, I had to find a way to troubleshoot and look for another mentor and place to intern at.
Assisting the dentist in everything from patient relations to a wide variety of dental treatments and procedures.
As we grow up, we are often asked what we want to be. Many people say careers such as a doctor or an actor. When I grow up, I want to be a dental hygienist. When I tell people this they often think i’m crazy for wanting to “work in someone’s mouth”. Dental hygiene is appealing to me. It is a big part of personal hygiene and keeping yourself healthy. One of the first things a person notices about you is your smile and I want to help people perfect theirs. I know that being a dental hygienist will not be the easiest thing in the world but there are some benefits. You don’t have to work full time if you don’t want to. Also as stated by Jenny Lewellen, “Overtime is not expected” (Lewellen). Hygienists also get a good salary. “The median annual wage for
A dental hygienist is a very important role in any dental office. As stated by a dental assistant, “Dental hygienists work closely with the dentist as well as hands on with the patients. They assist dentists with operative procedures such as fillings and extractions, and making molds of patients teeth” (Wilson, Jennifer). A large part of their job is teaching patients proper dental care to ensure a lifetime of healthy teeth. This includes proper brushing and flossing techniques. According to the job out look, a day as a dental hygienist can include taking x-rays, cleaning and scaling teeth, charting treatment plans, putting sealants on teeth, taking impressions of teeth and completing information about the patient’s oral and medical history (Summary). In some states dental hygienist are allowed to give local anesthetic and place and remove sutures (Delivering Local Anesthetic). According to advantages of becoming a dental hygienist, hygienists spend more hands on time with the patients than the dentist does. These are some of the instruments that dental hygienists use on a daily basis: toothbrush, scaler, mirror, ultrasonic scaler, explorer, suction, computer, salvia ejector, rubber cap polisher, dental models, x-ray machine and probe. The dental hygienist uses a toothbrush to remove soft plaque from the teeth. Plaque is a soft coating on the teeth that contain bacteria. The bacteria can cause tooth decay and gum disease. The amount of plaque on the teeth gives the hygienist an idea of how well the daily brushing and flossing of the patient’s teeth are completed on a regular basis. The scaler is used to remove hardened plaque or calculus from the teeth. The mirror is used to look closely at the surfaces of the teeth a...
The daily tasks of a dental hygienist are concerning. They complete tasks similar to a dentist, because customers make appointments to receive their teeth health needs. For example, they
When most people think of dental hygienists, the first and only thing they think about it cleaning and whitening teeth. However, that is mainly what dental hygienists do, but they also learn to do a lot more than that. According the occupational outlook handbook, hygienists clean teeth, examine patients for signs of oral diseases such as gingivitis, and provide other preventative dental care. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral health. As explained on American Dental Association, the dental hygienist...
As a future dental hygienist, I want to be able to help educate people about dental hygiene, prevent cancers and help rural communities overcome oral diseases and cancers. Dental Hygienist usually work in dentist office's, some of the responsibilities of a dental hygienist are removing tarter, stains and plaque from teeth, they take dental x-rays and access patient oral health and report findings to the dentist.
According to the book, “Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist”, a dental hygienist is a dental health specialist whose primary concern is the maintenance of oral health and the prevention of oral disease. A career as a dental hygienist provides a wide range of challenges where in the dentist office, the dental hygienist and dentist work together to meet the oral health needs of their patients. There are many things that dental hygienists do that you may not realize when you think you are just going in to get your teeth cleaned.
Yes, dental hygienists face several challenges in an everyday scenario, but they also face the challenge of benefiting others outside of their job and to the ones who are not as fortunate as others. It is imperative that dental hygienists and other health professions come together to expand their knowledge and practices to help the poor. The future of dental hygiene is expected to come from the interaction within the communities, and in order to do so, hygienists need to find the drive and put in the extra effort to encourage others to focus more on their health in order to stay healthy. If the dental field works to help others, their biggest challenge will soon become their
The history of a Dental Hygienist is very riveting. This profession was first founded in 1913 by Dr. Fones when he created the first Dental Hygiene education program in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1906 Fones trained Irene Newman the basics, and she was then the first Dental Hygienist in the world. Later, the founding of the first Dental Hygienist training program, many more were founded. People that decide to become a Dental Hygienist for many reasons, and one is because it is listed to be the 5th out of the “100 best jobs” in 2015. Other reasons are because the “U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics” projects that the employment will grow to 33.3%