What are the responsibilities and job description for the Dental Hygienist position at East Central District Health Department/Good Neighbor Community Health Center?
Full-Time | Boone, Colfax, Nance, Platte Counties
Join a mission-driven team bringing preventive dental care directly to underserved populations. As a Dental Hygienist, you’ll work beyond the traditional clinic setting, serving children, families, and older adults across schools, community programs, and long-term care facilities.
This role is ideal for someone who values autonomy, community impact, and meaningful patient relationships.
Position Summary
The Dental Hygienist provides preventative oral care under a generalized supervision. The Dental
Hygienist performs all duties within the scope of practice of dental hygiene including but not limited
to subgingival and supragingival scaling, root planning, coronal polishing, administering local
anesthetic, exposing radiographs, placing sealants and chemotherapeutics agents, inspecting the oral
cavity for abnormal tissue, taking alginate impressions, and assisting the dentist as necessary.
What You’ll Do
Required Qualifications
Join a mission-driven team bringing preventive dental care directly to underserved populations. As a Dental Hygienist, you’ll work beyond the traditional clinic setting, serving children, families, and older adults across schools, community programs, and long-term care facilities.
This role is ideal for someone who values autonomy, community impact, and meaningful patient relationships.
Position Summary
The Dental Hygienist provides preventative oral care under a generalized supervision. The Dental
Hygienist performs all duties within the scope of practice of dental hygiene including but not limited
to subgingival and supragingival scaling, root planning, coronal polishing, administering local
anesthetic, exposing radiographs, placing sealants and chemotherapeutics agents, inspecting the oral
cavity for abnormal tissue, taking alginate impressions, and assisting the dentist as necessary.
What You’ll Do
- Perform oral prophylaxis and/ or root planning to dentition via supra and subgingival scaling using hand and/ or ultrasonic instruments, coronal polishing (as needed), and head/neck/oral cancer screenings.
- Assists in copying, filing, faxing, updating pre-authorizations and plans as well as other
- projects related to administrative support.
- Applies sealants, SDF, fluoride varnish, or other chemotherapeutic agents in collaboration
- and as prescribed by dentist.
- Expose radiographs in collaboration and as prescribed by the dentist.
- Performs periodontal assessment, caries assessment, and all required/ appropriate document charting while collaborating with the dentist.
- Monitor Nitrous Oxide.
- Assist the dentist and/ or other team members when necessary or as time permits.
- Clean and stock operatory and maintain equipment as needed.
- Provide oral health (and systemic health correlation) education, explain treatment plans, and treatment options to patient.
- Reviews patient health history and takes blood pressure and pulse vitals.
- Practices universal precautions and other sterilization and infection control procedures.
- Provide information to callers regarding patient care as directed by dentist.
Required Qualifications
- Graduate of an accredited Dental Hygiene program
- Current Nebraska Dental Hygienist license
- Local anesthetic certification
- Basic Life Support (BLS) certification
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to work effectively with diverse populations
- Commitment to maintaining confidentiality
- Previous dental hygiene or community health experience
- Experience with portable dental equipment
- Bilingual skills or experience working with interpreters.
- Meaningful, community-focused work
- Opportunity to serve diverse populations across the lifespan
- Collaborative public health environment
- Autonomy in a non-traditional clinical setting