Career goals in Dental hygienist profession

Being a dental hygienist has always been an interest of mine for quite some time now. I've always known I wanted to pursue being a dental hygienist as a career. A Dental hygienist clean teeth and exam oral areas, head, and neck for signs of oral diseases. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral health. A Dental hygienist must wear a surgical mask, gloves and safety glasses to protect themselves and the patient from any diseases.

They typically work at a dentist office and about half of them work part-time, so some often work for more than one dentist. I chose this career because I’ve always found it fascinating even though other people may think it’s gross. I would like to help people and inform them on how to have good hygiene.

Dental hygienist clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments. They also remove plaque from and polishing a patient’s teeth during a routine checkup.

A Dental hygienist typically make $51,180 to start off their career. With experience and or higher education they could be making $101,330 a year. A similar career is a dental assistant, and they make about $37,630 a year. Employment of dental hygienist is projected to grow 20 percent from 2016 to 2026, much faster than the average for all occupations.

Dental hygienist should be comfortable with close personal interaction, easy to talk to, trustworthy, and they should have good communication skills. Dental hygienist should also always have a positive work ethic, be detail oriented, passionate and organized. Getting an internship at a dentist office would be a good life experience that would help prepare for this career.

CSN has a great dental program for dental hygiene and that’s where I will be attending to get my associates degree. Tuition is about $17,621 but it varies for each person. They have many different scholarships and ways to pay for their school. Classes you could take for this major are topics such as Anatomy, chemistry, physiology, microbiology, radiology, pharmacology, microbiology, periodontology, and oral pathology. Chemistry and health science would be excellent classes to take in high school. It will take at least two years for me to earn my associates degree and began my career.

Personal goals I have set for myself are to graduate high school, get into a good dental hygienist program, graduate college and get a good paying dental hygienist job. I plan on reaching my goal by working very hard and to become a successful dental hygienist. I need to know how to be a great dental hygienist by the time I graduate in 2023. I will keep my grades up by keeping up with my school work and trying my hardest. I feel like it is very important to gain a lot of knowledge and get some experience before I go into the working field.