There are many options for career changers, so you may not know what you should do next. If you’re interested in a healthcare career, you may want to think about pursuing dental hygienist education. Dental hygienists work with dentists to provide oral care to patients. Here are some reasons to pursue dental hygienist education.
To Help People Become Healthier
As a dental hygienist, you’ll get to play a key role in improving people’s health. This is a great career choice for people who’ve always wanted to help people and make a difference. As a dental hygienist, you’ll know you’re doing important work.
For example, you’ll get to counsel patients about their oral hygiene practices. This includes teaching patients how to brush their teeth or floss properly. It also includes teaching patients about how nutrition affects oral health. Good oral hygiene forms the basis for good oral health, so your tips can make a big difference in your patients’ lives.
You’ll also get to remove plaque and calculus from patients’ teeth. These deposits can contribute to problems like gum disease or cavities. By cleaning teeth, you’ll help your patients avoid these painful conditions.
To Earn a Good Salary
While making a difference in people’s lives is nice, it doesn’t pay the bills. Fortunately, dental hygiene is a career choice that lets you do both. Dental hygienists earn a good income.
So, how much do dental hygienists make? The median salary for people in this profession is $70,637. The average hourly rate for dental hygienists across Canada is about $40.18. Of course, you probably won’t make that much money right after graduating from college. More experienced dental hygienists tend to make more, just like in any other career. Less experienced dental hygienists are reported to make an average hourly rate of $36.57, which is still a very good pay rate. As you gain more experience, you can look forward to making even more money.
To Enjoy a Flexible Lifestyle
If you’ve always wanted a more flexible lifestyle, dental hygienist education can help you reach that dream. While people in some fields have no choice but to work year-round, that’s not the case for dental hygienists. Fifty-eight percent of dental hygienists work all year. The other 42 percent work part of the year. The latter group works an average of 35 weeks a year.
This flexibility means you can spend more time with your family or spend more time pursuing hobbies you enjoy. Instead of spending all summer stuck in an office, you can spend time outdoors. Or, you could enjoy a long, refreshing winter break.
Dental hygienists also have the opportunity to work part time. Sixty-one percent of dental hygienists work full time, according to Job Bank data. The rest work part time. If you have children to take care of, working part-time while they’re away at school can be very rewarding.
To Enjoy Varied Work
Do you get bored when you have to do the same thing every day? Dental hygiene education can help you enter a career with variety. Since each patient you see will have different needs, every day will be different. You’ll never know who you’ll meet or what oral health concerns they’ll have.
During the course of a workday, you could do anything from cleaning patients’ teeth to assisting with dentures to taking x-rays. Or, you could even discover serious health conditions during oral examinations. For example, you could notice signs of oral cancer. You could also detect cavities in patients’ teeth. For people who are interested in oral health, these varied tasks and responsibilities can be exciting.