Dental Hygienists
Administer oral hygiene care to patients. Assess patient oral hygiene problems or needs and maintain health records. Advise patients on oral health maintenance and disease prevention. May provide advanced care such as providing fluoride treatment or administering topical anesthesia.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
Key knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Computers and Electronics
- Public Safety and Security
- Chemistry
What the work involves
- Clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments.
- Feel and visually examine gums for sores and signs of disease.
- Chart conditions of decay and disease for diagnosis and treatment by dentist.
- Feel lymph nodes under patient's chin to detect swelling or tenderness that could indicate presence of oral cancer.
- Apply fluorides or other cavity preventing agents to arrest dental decay.
- Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
- Expose and develop x-ray film.
- Remove excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Realistic, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (75.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (49.1%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (81%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Dental Hygienists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 97% of occupations compared | 97% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 69% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 65% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 93% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 73% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 66% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 3.13%
- Constant contact with others: 96.87%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 16.41%
- Fairly important: 13.92%
- Important: 1.7%
- Very important: 0%
- Extremely important: 67.97%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 12.13%
- Fairly important: 3.13%
- Important: 13.92%
- Very important: 17.05%
- Extremely important: 53.78%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 3.4%
- Limited freedom: 13.92%
- Some freedom: 63.75%
- A lot of freedom: 18.94%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 22.52%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.05%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.7%
- Every day: 58.73%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 31.33%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 40.17%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.59%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.02%
- Every day: 1.89%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 30.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.4%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.64%
- Every day: 7.63%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 18.94%
- Fairly serious: 13.92%
- Serious: 20.64%
- Very serious: 7.5%
- Extremely serious: 39.01%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 29-1292.00 · SOC 29-1292 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8