Role Characteristics
- Provide dental advice on dental hygiene and oral health education to people of all ages
- Work closely with the dental team to treat and help patients in preventing gum disease
- Use a range of dental instruments to clean, polish and scale teeth
- Apply temporary dressings to protect a broken tooth or replace a lost filling
- Encourage and demonstrate tooth brushing and cleaning in-between teeth
- Ensure that dental instruments are sterilised appropriately
Skills
- Active listening
- Advice giving
- Attention to detail
- Decision-making
- Operating equipment
- Record keeping
Day in the life
Watch this video to find out more about how to become a Dental Hygienist
Routes into this role
Here are some example routes that can lead into this role.
- GCSEs
- BTEC, T-Level or A-Levels
- Foundation degree
- Undergraduate degree
- Degree apprenticeship
How to become
To become a Dental Hygiene Therapist, you will need a degree-level qualification in Dental Studies, or Dental Hygiene and Therapy. There are many ways to access university level education, and you can explore lots of current opportunities in the section below.
You might:
- Study A Levels, BTECs, or T Levels. Useful subjects might include Biology, Health and Social Care, Applied Science, or other science-related subjects.
- Complete an Access to Higher Education course, a college course designed for adults who want to access higher education but do not have the traditional requirements like A Levels.
- Complete a Foundation Year, a year-long university course designed to prepare you for studying at an undergraduate level if you do not have the required qualifications or grades to go straight into a degree.
You will then be ready to study at university level. This can include:
- Studying an undergraduate degree in Dental Hygiene and Therapy or Dental Studies.
- Completing a Dental Hygienist or Oral Health Practitioner apprenticeship, gaining experience in the workplace while studying at a degree level.
Alongside education, you may also want to build some relevant work or voluntary experience in dental practices, healthcare settings, customer-facing roles, care services, or health promotion activities, and think about developing your communication, attention to detail, teamwork, manual dexterity, organisation, patient care, skills.
Following your degree, you must register with the General Dental Council (GDC) before you can practise as a Dental Hygiene Therapist. You will also need to keep your skills and knowledge up to date through continuing professional development (CPD).
Where can this role lead
From your role as a Dental Hygiene Therapist, you could specialise in particular areas of oral health, such as gum disease treatment, oral health education, or working with specific patient groups. You may also decide you want to complete the additional training needed to become a Dentist, going on to diagnose and treat oral diseases.
Your skills in communication, health promotion, and health education would also transfer well into sideways moves such as a Health Trainer or Public Health Practitioner, where you continue to help people improve their health and wellbeing in different ways. You may also fit well into roles such as a Social Prescriber or Care Navigator, using your experience listening to and assessing the needs of patients to match them to the best support.
Progression might involve moving into leadership positions such as a Practice Manager or developing responsibility for training and supporting other dental professionals.
If you would like to move into broader hands-on healthcare roles, you could use your clinical skills and experience working with patients to pursue careers such as Adult Nurse or Children's Nurse, continuing to make a direct difference to people's health and wellbeing.
Location
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Hospitals
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Community Settings
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Prisons
Working hours
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Weekdays
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Part Time
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Full Time
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Casual Hours
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Flexible Hours
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Overtime
Opportunities
Leeds City College Health and Social Care courses
- Organisation
- Leeds City College
Volunteering in Health and Care
- Organisation
- Volunteering Opportunities
BSc Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy
- Organisation
- University of Leeds