Sierra Reynolds

6th period
Haslam
March 17, 2018
Reynolds 1
Career Research Essay

What would a normal day in a dental office look like? What happens inside the practice

that the outsiders do not get to see? Is it an easy career field to get into or is it super competitive?

What is the difference between a dental assistant and a dental hygienist? “Dental hygienists clean

teeth, examine patients for signs of oral diseases such as gingivitis, and provide other preventive

dental care. They also educate patients on ways to improve and maintain good oral health.”

(Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Dental

Hygienists). (1)

I never thought that one day I would be thinking about becoming a dental hygienist. In

February, last year, I got an invitation to the Jordan Applied Technology Career Center open

house. I told my mom, Janelle, that I didn’t want to go to this event because nothing the school

offered sounded like something I wanted to pursue in the future. They offered programs such as

physical therapy, digital media, medical assistant, CPR, engineering, barbering, nail tech etc. But

knowing my mom, she wasn’t going to let me get out of this situation that easy. I had to choose

three programs I would possibly like to take and we would go get more information about the

class. The three programs were CNA, dental assistant, and medical assistant.

I knew going into the open house that I definitely didn’t want to be a medical assistant

because I knew that they practiced giving shots on one another and I hate shots. After MA my

mom and I went to dental assisting. I didn’t know what to expect from there but it felt like a

really great environment and it interested me. We were told that to get into the dental assisting

program I would have to fill out an application because only certain people would be accepted
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into the class. I filled out the application soon after and about a month later I got a letter in the

mail saying that I was accepted into the program!

While in my dental assisting class we had talked about the different specialties like

orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics and more specifically about dentistry. Dental hygiene

came up and I started to do some research and see if that would be a possibility for me to

consider. At that moment I wanted to pursue a career for myself in hygiene.

In 1917 “Connecticut became the first state to pass dental hygiene licensure law. Irene

Newman, the first person trained by Alfred Fones, becomes the first licensed hygienist.”

(University of Michigan,

dent.umich.edu/about-school/sindecuse-museum/timeline-dental-hygiene​)​. “The University of

Michigan begins offering a one-year dental hygiene program. That same year, the State of

Michigan recognizes dental hygiene as a legal profession.” (5) There are a lot of people that had

an influence on dental hygiene, here are some: Irene Newman, Esther Wilkins and many many

more.

To be a dental hygienist you “typically need an associate's degree in dental hygiene.

Bachelor's and master's degree programs in dental hygiene also are available, but are less

common. A bachelor's or master's degree usually is required for research, teaching, or clinical

practice in public or school health programs.” (College Grad, Dental Hygienists- Career, Salary

and Education Information, ​collegegrad.com/careers/dental-hygienists​). (4)

This makes it so much easier to get a degree in hygiene rather than as a dentist. To be a

dentist you have to get a bachelor’s degree and then you go to school to pursue a doctorate
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degree. With all this schooling to be a dentist it will take roughly about eight to ten years to

graduate as a dentist. Why take this path when a dental hygiene program is only 2 years?

Many colleges in Utah offer a dental hygiene program. Some of these schools include,

Weber State University, Dixie State University, Utah Valley University, Snow College, Salt

Lake Community College, and Fortis College in Salt Lake. It will take about 2 years to get a job

as a dental hygienist because you need at least an associates degree. While I am going to hygiene

school, I could work as a dental assistant. To be a dental assistant, I will need a certificate saying

that I have completed some kind of dental assisting class. Since I am taking the dental assisting

program at the Jordan Applied Technology Career Center, I will graduate with that certificate.

To gain this certificate, you have to take the dental assisting class and you also have to complete

90 hours of an externship at any one of the Specialties offices. There are 8 different types of

Specialties and they are Dental Public Health (dentist), Endodontics (root canals), Oral and

Maxillofacial Surgery (wisdom teeth), Oral Medicine and Pathology, Oral and Maxillofacial

Radiology, Prosthodontics, Orthodontics (braces), Pediatric Dentistry, and Periodontics.

A normal day as a dental hygienist will “Treat dental problems or diseases. Record

patient medical histories. Examine mouth, teeth, gums, or related facial structures. Operate

diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment. Process x-rays or other medical

images.” (Career One Stop, “Dental Hygienists.”

www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/Occupations/occupation-profile.aspx?keyword=Dental

%20Hygienists&onetcode=29202100&location=84088&onet=29202100​). (3) At my dental

office, a full time dental hygienist will work an 8 hours shift with about an hour lunch break in
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between. Someone that works about the dental hygienist is the dentist. Someone who works

below the hygienist is the dental assistant. The average income a hygienist is around “$33.45 an

hour and 69, 580.00 yearly.” (Utah Futures, Dental Hygienists,

utahfutures.org/occupations/details?occupationID=58​). (2)

Possible challenges in this career environment would be working with children who don’t

like to open their mouths, who are scared of what I would be doing to their teeth, and who don’t

sit still so I can work on their teeth. Perks with working in a dental office is when the dentist

doesn’t want to work, neither do you. You can also pick when you work, so if you only wanted

to work once or twice a week, you could do that. Another one is when you are done with your

last patient of the day, you can just go home. You don’t have to wait for the other hygienists to

be done, you can just leave!

This is a very important occupation that I do not think is appreciated enough. When you

go to the dentist, you may not like going there, but you have no idea how important it is that you

go every 6 months. When you go to the dentist, the hygienist will “discuss general health issues

with patients and update dental charts. They inspect patients' teeth for deposits and decay, and

look for any shrinkage or disease in the gums. Hygienists take x-rays by positioning the camera

at different angles around the head and mouth. They also develop the film. Dentists use x-rays to

diagnose problems and plan treatment. Clean plaque and various stains from teeth. Clean and

scale teeth. Scale roots. Apply sealants and apply fluoride” if the parents want. (2)

When the hygienist is cleaning your teeth, they are getting all the plaque off of your teeth.

They do this so that you have healthy gums so you do not get diseases like periodontal disease
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which is an inflammatory disease that will affect the soft and hard structures that support your

teeth. When it first starts, it is called gingivitis which is swollen and red gums due to the

inflammation. Your body does this as a reaction to the bacteria.

In conclusion, I learned so much about dental hygiene that I already knew but more

importantly, I learned a lot of different things that i did not know. Doing this project, I

discovered that this is a possible career I could be pursuing in just a couple of short years. The

Utah Futures Career Interest Profiler helped me out a little too. The highest I scored was a 25

which was weird for me to see. It said that I like to do work that has to do with starting up and

doing business projects which is something I never saw myself doing. But, it continued to say

that I like persuading and leading people, making decisions, and taking risks which is definitely

true about me. In the my lowest category I scored a 10 in realistic because I don’t like hands-on

problems and answers. I also don’t like things that involve lots of paperwork or working closely

with a lot of people.

Work Cited:

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dental-hygienists.htm​ (1)

https://utahfutures.org/occupations/details?occupationID=58​ (2)

https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/Occupations/occupation-profile.aspx?keyword=
Dental%20Hygienists&onetcode=29202100&location=84088&onet=29202100​ (3)

https://collegegrad.com/careers/dental-hygienists​ (4)

http://dent.umich.edu/about-school/sindecuse-museum/timeline-dental-hygiene​ (5)