Dental Hygienist

A career as a Dental Hygienist can be a rewarding one. It gives you the opportunity to help patients to keep their teeth and gums healthy so that they avoid toothache and decay. As you develop your skills and expertise, you will also enjoy opportunities to move into a more specialist role.

What does the job involve?

Most people visit their dentist so that their dentist can check whether they have any problems with their teeth. These are usually problems arising from tooth decay, which causes cavities and toothache.

Most dental treatments, therefore, are designed to correct problems. As a Dental Hygienist, however, your role is to try to help patients prevent problems. Therefore, you will encourage patients to visit you regularly so that you can examine their teeth and help them to remove plaque. Plaque builds up on our teeth on a daily basis and leads directly to tooth decay and gum disease.

As well as removing plaque and giving patient’s teeth a professional polish, Dental Hygienists will also perform simple procedures such as sealing small cracks in teeth. Sealing these cracks can help to stop bigger cavities from forming, which require treatment and a filling from the dentist.

What qualifications and experience do you need?

To work as a Dental Hygienist, you must be registered with the General Dental Council. To register, you must first have completed a two-year course which has been approved by the General Dental Council.

Many Dental Hygienists start their professional life as Dental Nurses. Therefore, before they commit to gaining a two-year qualification in Dental Hygiene, they have already gained experience of the dental profession and the practice environment. They have already developed some of the relevant skills, so they are well-placed to continue their development and gain more in-depth knowledge on subjects such as anatomy, preventative dentistry and dental pathology.

Often, the customer skills that you develop as a Dental Nurse will also help you as a Dental Hygienist, as you work more closely with patients on a one-to-one basis.

What are the career prospects?

The majority of dental hygienists work in dental practices, as they offer patients a preventative service that complements their dentist perfectly. Sometimes, therefore, a Dental Hygienist will move up to become overall Practice Manager.

Alternatively, others take a different career path which sees them become even more specialist. This could involve using their dental hygiene skills in a hospital setting, to help people maintain their oral health after complex surgery, for example. Dental Hygienists who develop their skills can also go on to become Dental Therapists, who can offer patients a wider range of treatments.