Introduction
Dental hygienists, also called oral hygienists, are licensed professionals who maintain their patients’ oral hygiene. A person must first pass various written and practical examinations before being certified to be one (Simon et al., 2020). A person’s qualifications for being an oral hygienist vary from state to state and country to country. However, most examination boards need students to have a degree or a diploma from an accredited institution. Once certified, the dental hygienist can work either alone or alongside other professionals, such as dentists and nurses, to maintain the patient’s oral hygiene and health. The scope of work of a dental hygienist is broad and includes all activities that help prevent and treat oral conditions affecting their patients. Dental hygienist career is a lucrative occupation that requires an individual to possess a degree or a diploma in the field, although the qualifications may differ in different states. The paper is going to provide an overview of the dental hygienist profession.
Definition of Terms
Professional dental hygienists deal with many terms and academic jargon daily. First is oral hygiene, which is keeping one’s mouth clean and free from medical complications through brushing and avoiding particular foods (Woolley et al., 2020). Dental hygienists support dentists alongside dental assistants and technicians to provide oral patient care. One of the significant roles performed by a dental hygienist is periodontal charting, which is the recording of the gingival and overall health of a patient’s oral condition. Alongside other medical professionals, a dental hygienist performs the scaling and root planning procedure to remove plaques and help smoothen the teeth. In some regions, dental hygienists are tasked with administering local anesthesia, which reduces sensations in particular body regions to ease the pain. Some experienced hygienists also perform dental radiographs, diagnosing problems such as tooth decay, cavities, bone decay, and particular tumors.
Job Outlook
Dentistry is one of the fastest-growing job descriptions in the healthcare industry. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022), job employment opportunities for dental hygienists are expected to increase to 10% by 2031. This is way faster than for any other occupation in and outside the healthcare sector. Students opting for the dental hygiene route are assured of above 15000 job openings each year over the next ten years U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022). The cause for these openings is the transfer to other occupations by dental hygienists and their retirement from work, as well as the increase mentioned above in the number of people requiring dental care (Woolley et al., 2020). Since studies are pointing towards preventive dental care over treatment, patients without dental problems will likely seek medical interventions deriving the demand for oral hygiene services even further. A conflicting study states that dental hygienists’ job opportunities will continue to decrease in the aftermath of COVID-19 (Shacham et al., 2020; Simon et al., 2020). This leaves the projection of the future state of dental hygiene practice in a dilemma.
Job Setting
A job setting is an environment in which a professional performs their work. Dental hygienists provide their services in a different setting based on the nature of the work and the clients they serve. Self-employed oral hygienists provide their services in private offices regulated by various federal and state boards. Clinical dental hygienists offer services in various care institutions such as hospitals, schools, and health clinics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022) shows that 94% of dental hygienists work in the office of dentists, 1% in the office of physicians, and 1% for the government. Dental hygienists must put on protective equipment such as surgical masks, glasses, and gloves to protect themselves from infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The working routine of a dental hygienist also varies as some work part-time for dentists while others may be hired on a contractual basis (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). In whichever settings the dental hygienists perform their work, they are expected to maintain the dental hygiene code of ethics.
Patient Population
Dental hygienists perform the most common roles of gathering, collecting, and analyzing patient information to aid in preventive and curative sessions. Data collected by hygienists and other researchers show that oral disease affects nearly 3.5 billion people across the globe (World Health Organization, 2020). According to the “Global burden of disease” (2019), tooth decay and cavities is the most common health condition affecting people worldwide. This problem is mainly left untreated since the treatment of dental decay is expensive and does not form part of universal healthcare coverage. Therefore, dental hygiene is not a very profitable health occupation despite the vast population needing care (Simon et al., 2020). The dental hygienist also has to understand their patient’s daily routine since most dental problems are caused by daily habits such as alcohol use, failure to brush their teeth, excessive sugar consumption, and tobacco consumption.
A Day in the Life of a Dental Hygienist
Every dental hygienist has a different schedule, but for a typical one, they are particular aspects that fit all. Most hygienist report to work about one hour before the first patient arrives. They spend thirty minutes to one hour looking at the charts of the patients who have appointments with them. In doing so, they must determine how each patient will be handled and the best preventive or curative medication, procedure, and advice to give. The dental hygienist also has to ensure they meet with other co-workers in this first hour of the day to get any help they may need. Before administering the first client, the analysts must ensure the work environment is clean and all their protective equipment is ready. The supplies and equipment needed to handle the patient must also be in stock to avoid wasting time and confusion. Dental hygienists spend most of their time ensuring patient safety standards are followed (Choi et al., 2020). This study will use John, a fictional dental hygienist, to demonstrate what a day in the life of an oral hygienist would be.
John wakes up at 5:30 am, and by 7: 00 am, he is in the office. He will spend his morning looking at the charts of his patients, particularly the ones with appointments today. John will also ensure that all his tools and equipment for work are ready. He will have to inform the appropriate co-workers if any assistance is needed. At 8:10 am, his first client arrives and states that he has been struggling with bad breath, also called halitosis. John had dealt with this patient before, and his previous medication did not help. He will now have to perform a scaling and root planning procedure to remove dental plaque, which will take about three hours. At 11:00, the first patient leaves, and John disinfects the room, ready for his second. At 11.20 am, his second client arrives, and John refers him to a dental surgeon since his problem requires a dentist’s intervention. The rest of the day follows the same procure, and by 4:00 pm, John has dealt with five patients. His typical day has eight hours in the office, and he deals with 3 to 7 patients daily.
Patient Case Study
One of John’s patients is a 57-year-old African American male in the day under discussion. Three years ago, one of his back teeth was extracted due to various complications, including sharp pain. The extraction caused minor problems, including swelling and having a tender mouth, but the symptoms subsided with time. Now, the patient is back and says he is experiencing pain, bleeding, and inflammation in the region where the surgery was performed. He says that these problems are negatively influencing his career as a teacher and that he has not been taking nonliquid food lately. In administrating a solution, John has first to consider fundamental dental ethics. He should consider what the patient wants and give him various solutions to have autonomy in the curative procedure. He should also avoid medications that could harm his patient while relieving the dental problems, which is called the nonmaleficence principle. The theory of beneficence of offering the best possible care should also be followed in this case study. Since his patient is an African American, John should address the diversity issue and demonstrate empathy and understanding of an African-American man. John must also be cautious about the man’s age, 57, which is prime working age.
Conclusion
Becoming a dental hygienist can be motivating especially if it is one’s passion. However, the occupation requires an individual to possess a degree or a diploma in the field, although the qualifications may differ from state to state. The academic jargon used in the workplace requires a person to possess a degree or a diploma in the field, although the qualification varies from state to state. The career under discussion also has a positive outlook, and job opportunities continue to increase annually. Most dental hygienists work in the dental office, while a small minority work in the physician’s office and the government. The patient population is enormous, although this does not make the industry lucrative due to insurance coverage issues. Most dental hygienists usually have a hectic day in the office.
Annotated Bibliography
Choi, E.-M., Mun, S.-J., Chung, W.-G., & Noh, H.-J. (2019). Relationships between dental hygienists’ work environment and patient safety culture. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). Web.
Choi et al. (2020) investigate the relationship between dental hygienists’ work environment and the patient’s safety culture. They first conduct a background study and give a literature review of the work environment and safety culture. A study of 377 dental hygienists was conducted to know their workplace setting (Choi et al., 2020). The study results show that dental hygienists’ work environment is closely related to the patient’s safety. They propose that dental hygienists be trained to ensure their work environment encourages patient safety.
Global burden of disease (2019). Institute for health metrics and evaluation. Web.
The Global burden of disease is an organization that leverages various tools such as mortality and disabilities of different people in different counties according to their age, time, and sex. The tool calculates losses from diseases, injuries, and other risk factors for users to improve health systems and disparities. The organization aims to incorporate information on non-fatal outcomes in the healthcare system. It also aims to measure the outcomes of various healthcare procedures against their cost. Therefore, the tool can be used to make the healthcare systems better and more cost-effective. The global disease burden has over 1 billion data points used to analyze data and provide beautiful visualizations.
Shacham, M., Hamama-Raz, Y., Kolerman, R., Mijiritsky, O., Ben-Ezra, M., & Mijiritsky, E. (2020). COVID-19 factors and psychological factors associated with elevated psychological distress among dentists and dental hygienists in Israel. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8). Web.
Shacham et al. (2020) investigated the relationship between COVID-19 psychological factors and psychological distress among dental staff during the outbreak. The scholars tackle this research problem by surveying over 300 participants on the subject matter. They analyze the data on the relationship between the two variables using multivariate logistic regression. The study found that dentists who had a pre-existing medical condition and those who feared contracting the disease from a patient had more psychological distress. Dentists in a committed relationship had lower psychological distress and higher self-efficacy.
Simon, L., Donoff, R. B., & Friedland, B. (2020). Dental therapy in the United States: Are developments at the state level a reason for optimism or a cause for concern?Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 81(1), 12–20. Web.
Simon et al. (2020) conducted empirical research on various aspects of the healthcare systems across the United States. They summarize the current state of dental therapy and make future predictions. Simon et al. (2020) argue that the historical separation of oral health from other branches of medicine has made it evolve into a unique discipline. The researchers look deeply at the educational requirements of a dental hygienist. They also look at the liquescing regulations placed on the career. The future and the scope of the field are also discussed. The research concludes that even though the restrictions of dental therapy have been increased, the state of dental therapy in the United States is still limited by poor education.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018). Dental hygienists: Occupational outlook handbook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has a publication, occupational outlook handbook of dental hygienists guides dentists across the country. The handbook contains data on dental hygienists’ pay, education qualifications needed, expected work experience, number of jobs available as of 2018, and expected growth outlook from 2018 to 2028, among other vital statistics. It also contains critical information on dental hygienists’ roles. The bureau briefly previews the environment where the oral hygienists work. It gives clear guidelines for becoming a dental hygienist, including what you must learn. The bureau states that the demand for dental services will continue to increase.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022). Web.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has published an occupational outlook. The handbook of dental hygienists guides dentists across the country. The handbook contains data on dental hygienists’ pay, education qualifications needed, expected work experience, number of jobs available as of 2021, and expected growth outlook from 2021 to 2031, among other vital statistics. The bureau states that the demand for dental services will continue to increase. The Statistics Bureau states that the median wage for dental hygienists was 77,810 in May 2021 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). It also points out that the dental hygienist enjoys benefits such as retirement benefits, sick leaves, and vacations
World Health Organization. (2020). Oral health. Who.int; World Health Organization: WHO. Web.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a United Nations agency that seeks to ensure that the world is healthy and safe and that the vulnerable part of society is protected. Its goal is to ensure that more than 1 billion people have universal health coverage. Its functions include promoting development, fostering health security, strengthening health systems, enhancing partnerships, and improving performance. On the website, the world health organization addresses various dental hygiene problems and gives its response to such issues.
Woolley, J., Gibbons, T., Patel, K., & Sacco, R. (2020). The effect of oil pulling with coconut oil to improve dental hygiene and oral health: A systematic review. Heliyon, 6(8), e04789. Web.
This study seeks to find if the cheap and readily available coconut oil can be leveraged to help many people around the globe with oral problems. Woolley et al. (2020) hypothesize that coconut oil has oral hygiene benefits for students. They conducted randomized control tests on 182 participants, of which 42 were eligible students (Woolley et al., 2020). The studies take a maximum of 14 days and also screen six electronic databases. Woolley et al. (2022) identify significant differences in the reduction in salivary bacterial colony count (p = 0.03) and plaque index score (p=<0.001). They conclude that oil pulling with coconut oil has oral and dental hygiene benefits. However, the authors admit that the quality of the study was mixed, and the probability of a bias was high. They suggest that further studies need to be conducted on the relationship between coconut oil and dental hygiene.