Dental Hygienist

SUMMARY: Responsible for providing prophylactic care and preventative treatment.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Provides prophylactic care and preventive care to include topical fluoride and application of occlusal sealant;
• Exposes and develops radiographs;
• Provides oral hygiene education to patients, on an individual basis and in groups when feasible and appropriate;
• Develops education programs with the dental director;
• Responsible for maintaining accurate and legible dental patient records;
• Keep current and implement state and federal laws, standards, and guidelines related to dental services;
• Be responsible for assisting with the development and implementing the CQI for the dental program;
• Participate in continuing education seminars on and off site as appropriate and feasible to enhance dental program;
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

Graduate of a dental hygienist training program. 

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Ability to communicate effectively.  Ability to read and comprehend written materials. Ability to write clearly and concisely. Ability to communicate effectively one-on-one or in small group situations.  Ability to make formal presentations.  Must be able to communicate effectively to patients of varying educational, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions and decimals.

REASONING ABILITY:

Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.  Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

COMPETENCY/SKILL REQUIREMENT:

Competency required in the areas of interpersonal communication, excellent verbal and written skills.  X-ray is readable-good resolution.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS:     

Certified Hygienist with current NC Dental Hygienist Licensure.

OTHER SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work with the public.

PHYSICAL/MENTAL DEMANDS:

The physical/mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disability to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear, sit, stand, and walk. The employee frequently is required to use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools or controls, and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to, climb, balance, stoop, or kneel. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move patients of varying weights.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Mental demands include the ability to learn, adapt to changes, pay close attention to details, exercise discretion and good judgement, develop options and solutions to crisis and problems, gather and analyze facts, courteous and professional behavior, deal with stressful situations such as emergencies and/or staff shortage, and adhere to company policies and procedures.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee works intra-orally using sonic instruments that generate air spray, hand instruments that require repetitive movements. Must be able to work in biohazard environment and treatment of HIV positive patients. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.