dental hygienist

Dental Care: Are Mid-Level Practitioners a Threat to Dentists?

February 7, 2012 By Catherine Hughes 2 Comments

Can mid-level dentist practitioners give the same quality of dental care as a dentist?

This question is being raised in the Northwest where a Washington state dental practitioner bill passed through the Senate Health Committee. The Senate version of this legislation moves out of committee and can potentially be considered by the full Senate.

If this bill passes in the Senate, Washington will be the next U.S. state to adopt a mid-level dental provider model to create both dental hygiene practitioners and dental practitioners, who will be supervised (offsite) by a dentist.

These practitioners will be allowed to provide various levels of dental care “pursuant to a written practice plan with a dentist.”

Dental hygiene practitioners would expand the scope of practice of the state’s hygienists, who can now place fillings after a dentist has done the prep work. They would receive specialized training to do extractions, handle medical emergencies, and administer some drugs.

Dental practitioners would be permitted to do everything that hygienists can do except scaling and cleanings. They could also do restorations, administer anesthesia, and extract primary teeth as well as loose permanent teeth (+3 to +4 mobility).

Both types of practitioners could work with offsite supervision if approved by their supervising dentist, but neither could do dental crowns, bridges, or complicated procedures. (Dr Bicuspid)

The Washington Academy of General Dentistry and the Washington State Dental Association oppose this bill siting, “insufficient training for diagnosis and a lack of direct supervision.”

What are your thoughts on mid-level dentist practitioners? Are they bad for dentistry?

For more: Washington Lawmakers Mull Dental Therapist Bills

Filed Under: Dental Care, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: Dental Care, dental hygienist, dental practice, dentist, dentist shortage, dentistry, dentistry legislation, dentists, hygienists

Dental Hygienists Among the Fastest Growing Occupations in the U.S.

November 8, 2011 By Catherine Hughes 2 Comments

Occupational Outlook: Dental Hygienists Among the Fastest Growing Occupations in the U.S. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook for 2008-2018, employment among dental assistants is expected to grow by 36 percent during the 10-year period, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.

Of the 20 fastest growing occupations in the US economy, half are related to healthcare.

Healthcare is experiencing rapid growth, due in large part to the aging of the baby-boom generation, which will require more medical care. As healthcare costs continue to rise, work is increasingly being delegated to lower paid workers in order to cut costs.

For example, tasks that were previously performed by dentists are now beginning to be performed by dental hygienists and dental assistants.

As dentists‘ workloads continue to increase from treating the aging boomer population, it is expected that the demand to hire more hygienists to perform preventive dental care will grow as dentists will want to spend more time working on more complex dental procedures.

There is also the growing situation of not enough dentists to provide adequate care in rural areas where hygienists are needed to fill in the gap. According to the Center for Rural Affairs, in 2007, approximately 15 percent of rural residents were 65 years of age or older, 25 percent greater than in the nation as a whole.

The U.S. population of those 65 or older is predicted to double by 2030, reaching 20 percent of the U.S. total population, and the fastest group age living in rural America are residents 85 and older.

The average median wage for dental hygienists is $32.81 hourly, $68,250 annually with the best employment opportunities following the population size of states. New York, Texas, California, Michigan and Florida employ the most dental hygienists.

See: Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition — Dental Hygienists

Filed Under: Dental Hygiene, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental hygienist, dental hygienists, dental management, dental practice, dentist, dentist shortage, dentistry, dentists, economy, salaries

Dental Management Decision: How To Pay Your Dental Hygienist (video)

August 21, 2010 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

Most dentists (81%) paying their dental hygienists a base hourly wage. Only 19% say their dental hygienist payment includes commission.

“Hygienists are a critical aspect of any practice,” said one prosthodontist who pays on commission.

“My hygienists make quite a bit of money on commission," offered another dentist. "They sell sealants, fluoride, Arrestin, perio med, not to mention dental crowns, Invisalign, etc."

"Hourly wages are unfair; the dentist takes all the risk," said a pediatric dentist. "I continually have to remind my hygienists to utilize downtime constructively for something other than ‘dusting’ their workspaces. But in past when I paid on commission, I tended to lose my dental hygiene staff during downtime."

Filed Under: Dental Videos Tagged With: commission, dental hygienist, hygienists

Video Editorial: The Trouble with Hiring Hygienists

July 21, 2008 By Jim Du Molin 1 Comment

Dentist Ruffles Feathers with Mailing List Strategy

Dr. Jim Sparaga is constructing a new dental facility in rural Maine. He’s going to need some dental hygienists for his expanded practice, but finding them has proven more difficult than expected. He came up with a great recruiting strategy – but a few Maine dentists were less than thrilled.

Learn more by watching the video below. Or, if you prefer the written word, you can read Jim’s editorial about the difficulty of recruiting dental hygienists.

Filed Under: Dental Editorials Tagged With: dental, dental hygienist, dentist, dentistry, dentists, hygienists, Machias, RDH, Sparaga, video, video editorial

Dental Hygienists: Salaried or Paid on Commission?

September 17, 2007 By Julie Frey 2 Comments

Survey Says… Dentists Prefer Paying by the Hour

In our most recent survey, we asked dentists if they pay their hygienists an hourly wage, or if compensation is based on commission. Four out of five dentists report paying hygienists a base hourly wage. Dental Survey Only 19% say their hygienists are paid on commission. “Hygienists are a critical aspect of any practice,” wrote a prosthodontist. One dentist said of hygienists, “Most are overpaid,” while another commented: “Not a big profit center, but essential to the overall health of the practice.”