hygienists

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

Dental Hygienists’ Compensation (video)

June 20, 2010 By Julie Frey 2 Comments

Dentists report the average dental hygienist base hourly pay is $36 an hour, starting at under $20 an hour and extending past $50 an hour.

“They get paid too much for what little they do,” complained a New York orthodontist paying his dental hygienist $27 per hour.

Another dentist – one paying $55 an hour – disagreed about the value of dental hygiene. "She's worth every penny. She makes me a fortune."

Filed Under: Dental Hygiene, Dental Videos Tagged With: compensation, dental hygienists, dentist, hygienists

Dentists Cut Hours of Dental Hygienists

February 9, 2010 By Julie Frey 18 Comments

One dentist in three has cut their dental hygienist working hours, with the slow economy leaving less demand for dental hygiene services.

Another 11% have reduced the number of dental hygienists they employ, and 5% have cut compensation.

“Hygiene is the fuel that feeds the fire," said a California dentist.

How much hygienists are paid is an important dental management decision. "Upon doing a practice analysis, we found we overpaid our hygienist by $13,000," said one dentist. "We paid more in hourly plus benefits than we collected!"

“Our hygienist was paid salary and now she is paid hourly," said one doctor. Offered another, “Instead of any raises, we put our hygienists on a bonus system based on achieving a minimum daily production."

Here’s more of what dentists had to say on hygienists and tooth cleaning appointments:

"Hygiene at our office, which has a dentist and a prosthodontist, has remained strong throughout this economy. We are very thankful." (Ohio prosthodontist)
“We have not cut hours, but we have worked very hard at activating past due patients, with good success.” (General dentist)
“We have at least two cancellations in hygiene daily. Most tell us to reschedule their dental cleaning later into the year. Other simply say they are not coming.” (Bermuda dentist)
“Hygiene is the one aspect of the practice that hasn't shown lower numbers. I'm glad we instituted a good recall systems several years ago.” (Pennsylvania dentist)
“We are seeing more no-shows, and some people are wanting to wait a year instead of 6 months for their next dentist cleaning.” (Dental hygenist)
"If things slow down more, I will cut my dental hygentist days or time and do the dental hygiene myself.” (New York dentist)
“They have to take on more responsibility.” (Massachusetts dentist)
“We have a very periodontal oriented office. A lot of our patients are switching themselves to twice a year for teeth cleaning. They only want what the dental insurance will cover.” (Utah dental office worker)
“The gross receipts were down about 1% last year, but the profits were slightly up.” (Pennsylvania dentist)

Filed Under: Dental Surveys Tagged With: dental hygiene, dental hygienists, dental management, dentist, hygienist, hygienists

Dental Hygienists Want Independence (Video)

July 18, 2009 By Julie Frey 3 Comments

More and more states are granting dental hygienists unprecedented independence.

While dentists want to promote access to dental care, most doubt that an unsupervised visit to the dental hygienist is the right answer.

Dental Hygienists Get Paid Better than Some Dentists Wish! (video)

May 10, 2009 By Jim Du Molin 3 Comments

Dentists report paying their dental hygienists about $36 per hour, according to this poll. Many dentists expressed resentment over the high price tag of a dental hygienist.

Location is highly correlated with hourly base pay, with urban California hygienists being paid twice as much as their rural Southern counterparts.