For professionals in dental hygienist careers, a typical workday is never boring. Dental hygienists have a variety of responsibilities that revolve around effective patient care, including performing regular dental cleanings, taking x-rays or impressions, placing sealants and more. Additionally, they communicate and coordinate with dentists, dental assistants and other dental hygienists to ensure that operations are running smoothly within the office, providing support where needed.
If you have strong interpersonal skills, are attentive to detail and are looking for a rewarding career within the healthcare field, a career as a dental hygienist could be right for you. Below, learn more about what to expect in a dental hygiene career by exploring what a typical day in the life of a dental hygienist might look like.
Mornings as a Pro With Dental Hygienist Training
As a dental hygienist school grad, you’ll likely start your day relatively early, arriving at the office around 8:30 am to prepare for your first patient. Before your first appointment, you’ll review your schedule for the day, and go over the medical histories and charts of the day’s patients. You’ll look to see when their last check-up was, if they have any underlying health conditions, if they’ve undergone any surgeries or treatments recently and if they have any special requests or concerns surrounding their visit. Next, you’ll make sure that the treatment rooms are ready for patients to arrive, verifying that you have the tools you need on hand. Once you’ve completed all of these steps, you’ll have a quick meeting with your dental office’s team. Here, you’ll share any relevant information about the patients you’re seeing today, and take note of any updates your coworkers have. Now, you can begin seeing patients.
Taking Patient Appointments
Throughout the workday, most full-time dental assistants will probably see around eight patients, beginning at 9:00 am and ending around 4:30 pm or 5:00 pm. While most of these appointments will probably involve a routine check-up and cleaning, you’ll also be handling the occasional x-ray, periodontal probing, dental impression and other similar procedures. When you finish up with each patient, you’ll notify the dentist that it’s time for them to perform the final check-up.
In order to keep things moving efficiently, you’ll work with a dental assistant who will help you to switch from patient to patient while keeping the exam room clean. Around 1:00 pm, you’ll take a one-hour lunch break to relax and reset, heading back into the office around 2:00 pm to finish up your cleanings. After all of your cleanings are done, you can begin your end-of-day tasks.
Finishing Up for the Day
For professionals with dental hygienist training, the time at the end of the day when patient appointments are over is valuable. This is when dental hygienists have the opportunity to tie up any loose ends after a busy day. After launching your career, you’ll use this time to write up your notes about the patients you’ve seen during the day, making sure to include any information that’s relevant to their medical records.
You’ll also work with your colleagues to make sure that the office is left in good condition for the next day. Not only does this allow the morning to go more smoothly, but it’s also a great time to see if there are any supplies which need to be restocked for the next day. Once everything is in order, you’ll leave the office around 5:30 pm. While a typical day on the job can be hectic, as a dental hygienist, you have the rewarding task of ensuring that your patients can achieve great oral health.
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