Hygienist Full Time

Description

Job Purpose:

Registered Dental Hygienists are assigned duties and responsibilities which involve licensed professional work providing dental hygiene services. A Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH) implements appropriate standard of care therapy, assists a dentist in providing hygiene, periodontal or dental care and treatment, provides dental hygiene assessments, creates treatment plans based on a dentist's diagnosis, and provides oral and overall health care education and instruction to patients.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assess patients' teeth, bone, and periodontal tissues indicating the presence of any abnormalities or suspected diseases or conditions.
• Creates periodontal treatment plans based on the dentist's diagnosis.
• Bring to the immediate attention of the dentist any suspected lesion in the mouth or on the teeth.
• Thoroughly remove soft and hard deposits and extrinsic stain from teeth, using hand instruments, ultrasonic cavitron inserts, and prophy handpieces.
• Instruct patients on good oral hygiene practices, recommend appropriate products or devices for patients' home care, and provide other health care education, as necessary.
• Perform prophylaxis in the absence of periodontal disease or gingivitis.
• Perform full mouth debridement, either as a first stage gingivitis therapy or to remove interfering calculus to further enable a more accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.
• Perform scaling and root planning as a periodontal therapy.
• Place locally administered antibiotics as supportive periodontal therapy.
• Implement irrigation and desensitizing procedures or products as adjunctive to periodontal therapy.
• Position and expose dental and carpal radiographic film and sensors.
• Perform in-office whitening procedures, including first application of gel, curing the gel, and subsequent applications.
• Apply cavity-preventive agents, such as fluorides and pit and fissure sealants.
• Make recommendations as to patients' re-care interval and follow-up needs.
• All other duties and responsibilities as assigned and allowed under applicable Florida state laws and regulations.

Qualifications

• Must be licensed and in good standing with the state.
• Associates or Bachelor's degree in dental hygiene.
• Current Basic Life Support (BLS) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certificate.
• Must be willing to partner with the dentist and work well as a member of the total dental team. Should have visual acuity and manual dexterity, since they use dental instruments within a patient's mouth with little room for error.