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Career Details

29-1292.00 - Dental Hygienists


Administer oral hygiene care to patients. Assess patient oral hygiene problems or needs and maintain health records. Advise patients on oral health maintenance and disease prevention. May provide advanced care such as providing fluoride treatment or administering topical anesthesia.


Key Facts
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Bright Outlook
Career Details
Green Job
Career Details
Current Employment
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Forecasted Employment
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Change in Employment
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Change in Employment %
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Tasks
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Tasks
The tasks listed below can be performed to prepare you for a career in this field.
Core
  • Clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments.
  • Feel and visually examine gums for sores and signs of disease.
  • Chart conditions of decay and disease for diagnosis and treatment by dentist.
  • Feel lymph nodes under patient's chin to detect swelling or tenderness that could indicate presence of oral cancer.
  • Apply fluorides or other cavity preventing agents to arrest dental decay.
  • Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
  • Expose and develop x-ray film.
  • Remove excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth.
  • Administer local anesthetic agents.
  • Record and review patient medical histories.
  • Provide clinical services or health education to improve and maintain the oral health of patients or the general public.
  • Maintain dental equipment and sharpen and sterilize dental instruments.
  • Maintain patient recall system.
  • Attend continuing education courses to maintain or update skills.
Supplemental
  • Make impressions for study casts.
  • Conduct dental health clinics for community groups to augment services of dentist.
  • Remove sutures and dressings.
  • Place and remove rubber dams, matrices, and temporary restorations.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Knowledge
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Knowledge

The items listed below are organized into sections that contain knowledge useful for pursuing a career in this field. Each section also contains a "Percentage of Importance" statistic that shows how relevant an item is to the occupation.
 Medicine and Dentistry
  • 92%
    Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
 Customer and Personal Service
  • 79%
    Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
 Psychology
  • 60%
    Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
 English Language
  • 56%
    Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
 Education and Training
  • 52%
    Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
 Computers and Electronics
  • 51%
    Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Tools
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Tools
The tools listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Dental hygiene and preventive care equipment and supplies
  • Air-driven dental polishers
  • Air/water syringes
  • Dental polishers
  • Motor-driven dental polishers
 Dental and subspecialty instruments and devices
  • Angle formers
  • Autoscalars
  • Calculus explorers
  • Caries explorers
  • Cavitron equipment
  • Dental curettes
  • Electronic calculus detectors
  • Hand scalers
  • Hollow handle scalars
  • Instrument sharpening devices
  • Matrices/matrix retainers
  • Nabers furcation probes
  • Periodontal probes
  • Pulp testers
  • Rotating caps
  • Saliva ejectors
  • Solid handle scalars
  • Suctioning equipment
  • Ultrasonic scalers
 General dental supplies
  • Aspirating syringes
  • Cotton pliers
  • Dental needles
  • Rubber dams
 Dental imaging equipment and supplies
  • Bite wings
  • Dental x ray development equipment
  • Dental x ray machines
  • Digital dental x ray units
  • Panoramic dental x ray units
  • Periapical films
  • Portable dental x ray units
 Dental lasers and illumination and fiber optic equipment and supplies
  • Caries detection aids
  • Dental lasers
  • Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Nd:YAG dental lasers
 Cameras
  • Digital cameras
  • Intraoral dental cameras
 Blood pressure units and related products
  • Electronic blood pressure units
  • Manual blood pressure cuffs
  • Mercury blood pressure units
 Dental materials
  • Mechanical mixers
 Oxygen therapy delivery systems and devices
  • Nitrous oxide administration equipment
  • Oxygen administration equipment
 Computers
  • Notebook computers
  • Personal computers
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Technology
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Technology
The technologies listed below include machines, equipment, tools, and software that is useful for individuals who are interested in this career.
 Industry specific software
  • Dental charting software
  • Dental clinical records software
  • Dental digital radiology software
  • Dental imaging software
  • Dental intra-oral imaging software
  • Dental office management software
  • Henry Schein DentrixHOT
  • Patterson Dental Supply Patterson EagleSoft
  • Voice-activated perio charting software
 Business function specific software
  • Inventory management software
  • Microsoft OfficeHOT
 Content authoring and editing software
  • Microsoft ExcelHOT
  • Microsoft WordHOT
  • Scheduling software
  • Word processing software
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Certifications
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Certifications
The certifications listed below are useful to pursue if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific certifications are listed for this career
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Licensing
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Licensing
The licensing information below is organized into sections and is useful for pursuing if you are interested in a career in this field.
No specific licensing information is listed for this occupation in the area you have selected.
All data sourced from US Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration O*Net Database.
Related Programs
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Online Programs related to this career, offered by participating institution(s), are listed below.

Clicking on the Degree programs in the list below will take you away from the Careers page.
A program directly related to this occupation is currently not offered by any of our partner institutions. You should contact the Institution(s) you are considering to discuss other options that may meet your needs and background.