Posts tagged ‘dental assistant salary’

Dental hygienists are one of the most rapid growing careers these days. Therefore, taking a profession in the field can’t be wrong. If you are interested, dental hygienist schools can lead you to plunge into the career quickly.

As the world and people are aging, the demand of quality dental treatment, of course, keeps increasing. Meanwhile, the number of dentists increases slowly. In order to fulfill the needs, dentists are expected to work effectively and efficiently. However, it is difficult for dentists to serve people well if they are forced to handle administrative tasks which they do not master. The solution to this problem is to increase the number of dental hygienists so that dentists can focus on providing dental health care merely. In consequence, dental hygienist schools come in to play.

When you enroll at one of these schools, you will be taught necessary knowledge for working in a dental office. These schools are able to train you to master the task of a dental assistant. Beside administrative tasks, you will also learn how to help dentists perform vital dental treatment including running laboratory examinations, oral exam, preparing patients, and so forth. You will learn in classes set in a clinical setting so that you face real problem in the world of dentistry. This is aimed to prepare you as ready as possible to serve people as you graduate.

Assisting dentists during treating patients is the main duty of dental hygienists. Hence, quality dental hygienists should be able to perform X-rays, release sutures, release excess, and do other dental procedures. Besides, they are required to keep environment clean. In addition, they are expected to understand basic knowledge on dental terminology. Dental hygienist schools will teach you all these.

The task of dentist hygienists also include administrative tasks such as arranging appointments with patients, making and answering phone calls, handling billings, filing papers, and other clerical tasks. In short, they need to be able to perform the task of a clerk of any office.

The duties of dental hygienists are not trivial. That is why they earn high amount of salary every year. Seeing the fact that more and more people need high quality dental care, there is a big possibility their salary will increase drastically in the near future. These days, they are paid around 40 dollars an hour. To reach this bright prospect, dental hygienist schools will show you the way.

Dental Hygienist Schoolsimage: dental.pacific.edu

Dental assistant jobs become one of the most popular careers especially these last ten years. The demand of these jobs is always increasing every year. Even, in the next ten years, it is predicted that this field will keep growing. Seeing the fact that population keeps increasing, which means more people need good dental care, it is a good decision to plunge into this career. Dental care can be an interesting and a challenging field for you if you like to work in a place where you can meet new different characters and run multitasks.

The Types of Dental Assistant Jobs

It is however important to know the types of these jobs before you decide seriously to take dental assistant as the path of your life. Dental assistants perform various duties. The duties can be clerical duties which require them to perform any clerical tasks in an office. The clerical task may include arranging appointment with patients, handling billings, making and answering phone calls, bookkeeping tasks, and many others. In short, the duties are the same as the duties of clerks in any office.

Dental Assistant Jobsimage: manndentalassisting.com

Dental assistants can also perform laboratory tasks. This dental assistant jobs type requires you to perform important tasks like running X-rays, preparing mixture and molds, assisting dentists during surgery and many other clinical tasks. This type, of course, requires you to have good educational background because you are responsible for more difficult tasks. However, in many dental offices, dental assistants are expected to be able to perform the two types of duties.

Besides clerical and clinical skills, many dental offices require applicants to have good communication skills. This is because a dental assistant is also expected to greet patient and in a certain situation, the assistant should be able to calm patients down. You may think that the clerical tasks of these jobs are trivial. But they are important to make sure that all of dental treatments performed by the dentists run well. The tasks are designed to make dental offices serve people effectively.

If you are looking for dental assistant jobs, you need to prepare yourself to be able to serve all of the types. If you apply in a big dental office, you may be obliged to perform one type merely. But some small dental offices require you to perform all of the types. Nevertheless, it is not too difficult to find dental assistant jobs these days.

In my opinion, if you are looking for a job that can bring you financial security, you had better try to be a dental hygienist. Such professional cooperates in a team with dentist. People with this job usually help do care for the teeth. For instance, they assist any need of teeth cleaning. Such cleaning is very advantageous to get rid of calculus, plaques, and stains. They also often take part in giving education to patients on how to keep their teeth healthy individually. In addition, dental hygienists help detect any symptom of disease on both gum and teeth through X-ray. Then, they will consult the examination results to dentists. Some of such dental health experts are able to give anesthetics as well if needed. Dental hygienists play an important role too in giving advice to patients about good lifestyle and food that can support them in keeping the health of their teeth. Even though this job only deals with a small part of the whole human body, it is truly worth it in terms of salary.

A dental hygienist salary is various. It depends on how big the office of the dental care is and where it is located. The same as other jobs, people with dental hygiene skill who stay in a big city will surely have much income that those who stay in a countryside. Besides the size and the location of the office, personal experience in the field can also determine the dental professional’s salary. If you are planning to have such job in the future, you should know its salary range. The lowest range starts from approximately $17 for an hour. Meanwhile, the highest range begins from approximately $62 for an hour. It means that in a year you can earn from $30,000 up to $120,000. This salary amount is absolutely bigger than that of dental assistant who can only gain $22,000 at the least and $50,000 at the most per year. What makes dental hygienists become an enjoyable job to do is because it does not always require people to work based on hourly rates. Some of them even often do their work according to basis of commission. The benefit that they can get by working this way is that it is more possible for them to earn more income since such work awards more bonuses for those who succeed in achieving more than the expected goals. The table and chart below represent current situation of dental hygienist salaries in some of U.S. states:

State

Average Salary

Alabama $  43,656
Alaska $110,180
Arizona $  84,325
Arkansas $  75,016
California $  96,523
Colorado $  80,800
Connecticut $  83,004
Delaware $  68,612
Georgia $  51,744
Hawaii $  66,215
Idaho $  68,496
Illinois $  64,784
Indiana $  73,906
New Jersey $  85,320
Newyork $  54,101
Ohio $  66,749
Rhode Island $  79,818
Texas $  67,192
Utah $  40,442
Washington $101,288
Washington DC $  98,867
West Virginia $  76,048
Wyoming $  72,823

 

I am sure that you are also eager to find out more things that people can gain by being teeth hygienists. The first advantage is that they are sometimes given a chance to enjoy free vacation. The one that usually becomes a sponsor for such program is either dental or health insurance. Then, as mentioned previously, those who are successful in passing the desired goals are often given more incentives. Since it is possible for the hygienists to take either part- or full-time job, their schedule is more flexible and adaptable. Meaning to say, it is free for them to decide when they work. If the office needs their help, they will do their job. If there is no request for a help, they can do other jobs that can lead them to get more money. In case you wish to get additional benefits, I recommend you take the full-time one. If the hygienists work in a hospital and in a big practice, their benefits will surely be much better. Those who work under the capacity of the government can also take the same advantages. To start career in the field of dental hygiene only needs 2 years at the least. Whether your study in this field will be time-consuming or not depends on the aspect that you choose. To start your own practice in private basis just requires 2 years of education that is equal with associate degree. There have been so many community and technical colleges that promote such education. Meanwhile, to begin working in teaching or research, a higher degree is a must. People should study the field for 4 years. In the first two years they have to complete education in prerequisite basis. They should pass such subjects as health, English, and science. Then, in the last two years they have to deepen their knowledge on dental hygiene. After 4 years of education has been accomplished, bachelor degree is given to them.

Dental Hygienist Salary

Image: media.cnbc.com

In brief, a dental hygienist is one of the most promising medical careers. From 2006 up to 2016 the demand of people with this job gradually increases. That is why it can be said that this job is truly a great option to select. What makes it worth to give a try is that it dares to support people with the greatest amount of salary, the widest benefits, and the most flexible work hours. With this job, you will definitely be able to own convenient style of life. The more advanced your education is, the better your salary will be as dental professionals. As a starting point, you might want to practice what you have learned about dental hygiene in your first years of education in a small clinic. While you are also trying to achieve higher degree, you can search for other hospitals that can give you a better offer of salary. Once you have completed the degree, you will be more experienced and appropriate for the available job as a hygienist. You should also remember that even though larger cities pay a hygienist more, they also have higher standard of living. So, it will be better you for to check the current salary of dental hygienists as well as the standard of living in each city or state. In case there is any job vacancy for dental hygienists, you should make sure that you fulfill the exact requirements since it is possible for the vacancy to expect a hygienist with more than certificate. What you should not forget as well is that this job is not comparable with MD because MD requires more years of medical education and certification. At last, do you think that you deserve such job?