Dental hygenist?

In my search for a career path, i have come across dental hygene. I have heard good things. What is your opinion of the job. Does anyone out their have this job, does it make good money, does it get boring, and would you recommend it to others, are their things you dislike, was the schooling difficult ?? thanks to everyone who answers

Dental hygenist?
I am 35 and have been practicing dental hygiene for 7 years. I work as a research coordinator at a University so I am very fortunate to have a lot variety in my job duties. What initially attracts a lot of people to the field is the excellent entry level salary ($35.00/hr in my area with benefits) and 4 day work week in most cases. Although the entry level salary is nice, there won't be much increase in that amount througout your career. The curriculums are highly demanding and highly competitive to get accepted into. There is a high rate of burnout in the career since the job is repetitive. If you are a highly motivated individual you can make your career very dynamic, but if you don't take it upon yourself to keep it interesting and keep learning new things, you will get bored. Dental hygiene is much more than cleaning teeth. Good clinicians need to build trusting relationships with their patients and be able to motivate them to improve their oral health and ultimately their overall health. It's mentally challenging to try to connect to people from all walks of life! It can be physically challenging as well. Working in the same position for most of an 8 hour day can be hard on the back, shoulders, wrists and hands. Again, if you are proactive, take care of yourself and pracitce ergonomically, you can prevent (or at least lessen severity) of any repetitve strain injuries. Dental hygiene is not for everyone and although I love it, without knowing you I can't tell you if it's for you or not. You really should visit a local school and talk to your own hygienist. There's a lot of factors that should go into your decision and I hope you will seek out more information from other resources as well. Whatever your decision..GOOD LUCK!
Reply:I graduated with BS Dental hygiene May 07. Classes were intense at times but clinicals were the biggest cause for stress b/c you are completely dependent on your patients showing up. Have lots of friends and family on standby. Keep your GPA up during pre-recs b/c it can be a tough process getting accepted into the professional program. The money is good depending on your location. Boring? When I first started working it was exciting then I hit a boring phase, but now I am getting better and faster so I have more time to chat with my patients. That keeps the day interesting b/c you see so many different types of people.

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