Why Dental Hygiene Is So Lucrative In Canada

Everyone loves a winning smile. It is a symbol of success and physically attractive to the eye. This probably explains the North American fixation with brushing, flossing, whitening and gargling, everyone aspires to those shiny pearly whites - ontario dental hygiene schools.

Most likely, this is not going to change soon. In light of the current recession, job security is at the top of the priority list of all. If you are looking for job security, look no further than a career in dental hygiene.

Becoming a dental hygienist

Canada has a lot of options for post-secondary student looking to pursue a career in dental hygiene. University of British Columbia Dalhousie University, schools across the country offer dental hygiene programs.

To obtain a degree in dental hygiene, students generally must have the following high school credits or equivalent International Baccalaureate / Advanced Placement (IB / AP) in order to qualify for admission to first year:

English 11, English 12, a Grade 11 language course, Biology 11, Biology 12, Chemistry 11, Chemistry 12, Principles of Mathematics 11, Social Studies 11 or First Nations Studies 12, another provincial examinable approved the 12 th degree course.

What to Expect

Dental hygienists are registered and certified health professionals trained to maintain their oral integrity. Specializing in preventing oral health problems and diseases of the mouth, dental hygienists work with individual clients or communities to prevent diseases of the teeth, gums and mouth lesions that can affect overall health.

One of the interesting aspects of being a dental hygienist is the range of the patient base. Dental hygiene services are provided to people of all ages, from parents in prenatal classes for the elderly long-term health care facilities. A typical day of work may include assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of health data, including:

Teaching an elementary class about oral health care, family counseling on oral health, providing fluoride treatments to patients during a dental visit, local anesthesia for dental hygiene or dental treatment, education long-term care staff on oral care for clients, working with nurses to prevent sports injuries and playground, elderly detection of signs of oral cancer, Examinations of the head, neck and oral application of pit and fissure sealants to the teeth, literature review and conducting research, Scaling, root planning, and so on.

Preventive health care is another part of the profession of dental hygienist. Many dental hygienists offer programs to promote health in their community for parents and special needs groups, schools, kindergartens and long term facilities for the elderly care. These programs often include the defense to stop smoking, sports / clinics in the mouth guard and baby care seminars.

The practice of dental hygiene in Canada

In order to practice dental hygiene in Canada, registered dental hygienists (ADO) must complete a recognized dental program and be registered or licensed with the provincial or territorial regulatory authorities.

Clinical practice to the Community

Dental hygienists have the option to work in both community practices and clinics.

Clinical Practice

In clinical practice, dental hygienists working more frequently with general practitioner dentists or specialty practice dentists. They work directly with patients to prevent and treat gum disease and tooth decay. They are trained to:

Evaluate the health of teeth and gums, prepare individualized treatment plans dental hygiene, refer patients to a dentist for dental treatment.

The role of the clinical dental hygienist is not limited to the care of the aesthetic appearance of teeth and gums, but also complex services such as scaling and root planing to treat infections of the gums.

Some Canadian provinces allow dental hygienists to own their own practice of dental hygiene. For example, ADO can practice independently in British Columbia, Ontario and some U.S. states. Increasingly, the law as more provincial / territorial allows dental hygienists to open their own clinical practice, entrepreneurial skills are increasingly important for dental hygienists.

Community Practice

Dental hygienists working in community practices vary in scope. They can work with people based on one by one, or deal with entire communities. Dental hygienists may perform health surveys of a community and work with health professionals to design a health program for communities.

Often, the evaluation of the effectiveness of current procedures for health care and programs while identifying the need for. A dental hygienist will work with a variety of health professionals and community members, including nurses, speech pathologists, the injury prevention coordinators, dentists, doctors and dieticians.

Community members may include school principals, teachers, parents, coaches, day care providers, health advocates, government departments and managers of other programs of health promotion in the community.

Some dental hygienists choose to specialize in health programs for new Canadians, cancer (oncology) patients, expectant mothers or homeless teens. Community health practice offers plenty of variety to the career of dental hygiene.

There are many interesting career opportunities and exciting for dental hygienists. Dental hygienists may encounter a variety of roles and responsibilities to choose from. These include functions such as doctors, educators, administrators, researchers.

Depending on whether you choose to work in clinical practice or community dental hygienists can practice in a variety of environments such as private dental practices, public health and community health centers, professional associations of dental hygiene and agencies regulators, Home Care and extension programs, universities and community colleges, the government (policy and planning, advocacy groups), industry (insurance companies and dental supply), consultancy, research.

Wage

The average hourly wage of Canadian dental hygienists with less than one year of experience is approximately C $ 31.16, according to PayScale.

Dental hygiene is right for you?

Dental hygiene is a profession that offers job security and a lot of different employment opportunities. Graduates of institutions of post-secondary level have the option of working in clinical practice or community, and a wide range of clients.