I had the opportunity to interview a friend of a friend that is a dental Hygienist. Her name is Dyanna Killpack. She gave me some great information about this career. Here are the questions I asked her:
1) Where did you do your hygiene program and how long did it take you to complete?
She went to SLC community college, and it took her two years to complete. That is after her prerequisites which took her about two years to complete.
2) How long did it take to find a job after graduation?
Took about 4 months, she knew someone in the field that helped here
3) What is the starting salary range in this area for hygienists?
About $30-$32 per hour
4) What is a typical work day for you?
Her days are 8 hour days, she sees 8 patients a day with an hour lunch.
5) Why did you decide to pursuit this career?
It was the flexibility of the hours she could work and the compensation.
6) How competitive is this field?
She said it was very competitive. She was on a two year waiting list just to get in to the program, and if she had not had a connection with a dental office, she would probably still be looking for a position. There are so many other hygienists with experience that tower over you.
7) Is this job stressful?
Not really, the only thing is the time management. Making sure you get your patients done on time so others aren’t waiting.
8) What do you like most/least about this job?
The most would have to be the client interaction, and the different ones you see. You aren’t going to work on the same people day in and day out. On the flip side, the thing I like least is the repetitiveness of the job. You are always doing the same procedures everyday.
I enjoyed the interview I had with Daynna. She gave me some good insight on the reality of this career, and things that I may have not thought of before. For instance, I might need to start networking a little bit within dental offices because unless you know someone, it may be hard to find a job after graduation. She also reassured me of how good the pay is. She only works 2-3 days a week, and makes very good money. She also reassured me of the flexibility of the schedule. She said that a lot of dental offices hire two hygienist if wanted, so you don’t have to work the full work week if you don’t want to. All in all, she was very resourceful and gave me a good insight on the career of dental hygiene. It might just be something I look into a little more thouroughly!
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