nurses vs. dental hygenist salary

[mommy2BCD]

First of all let me say before I begin that I respect dental hygenist (in fact once thought of becoming one myself), however........

I am amazed at the fact that dental hygenist are paid so much more than nurses. I feel like nursing is much more intense than dental hygiene. Afterall nurses work weekends, holidays, 12- hour shifts, are responsible for the whole body and its systems and are held responsible for many more things than hygenists. I know of a friend who makes $31/hr. Another girl I know started out in the high 20s range right after graduation. The most I have personally seen for new grads in nursing has been 21.86. I am not saying that the hygenists do not deserve their money, they have a woderful job as well, but what has happened to nursing in terms of keeping up with the salary trends? Anyone know of any "real" reasons why this may be ? I wish there was a way for nurses to demand more respect in this profession and demand higher pay, because I personally think that we all deserve it! What does everyone else think?

[miss_fit]

Exactly. I'm only hoping that if nurses assertively and continuously approached hospitals and the public with an organized and united message in those terms, that management will be forced to dedicate more funds to their "front-line". Perhaps in the form of incentives. (I think a few do, already)

I think they've traditionally given that to the MDs, because the $ they bring is so obvious at billing. Now, hospitals realize how important the nurse is to pt satisfaction, but they want him/her to feel guilty for looking at her job in the same capitalistic terms, so they don't have to give her her due.

I imagine there are nursing unions or other groups who could, or already are, developing strategies to emphasize the connection and consequences for hospitals wanting to have their cake and eat it, too.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

i was going to school for dental hygiene. didn't realize they made more than nurses, but i couldn't clean teeth all day..that's what made me switch. plus you can't really talk to your patients as a DH because your hands are in their mouth!

[Dental Hygienist]

I am a dental hygienist. I make $36 an hour with benefits for 3 days a week (27 hours)....if my patients cancel my hours might get cut, but otherwise the hours are pretty stable. There is a HUGE customer service side to dentistry and especially dental hygiene; the hygienist is the pulse of the practce; causing patients to return every 3,4 or 6 months and reinforcing the dentist's treatment recommendations. Often times the job can be kind of sales-ish and may or may not include a sales/production bonus. This is one of the reasons why I'm considering leaving the profession; I don't think people should be "sold" healthcare or dental care.

Hygienists do enjoy a great wage, in large metro areas they easily make in the $40's an hour, $50+ an hour in southern california. I myself have made $40 an hour when temping and doing fill-in work (i.e. no benefits). Nationwide, hygienists are easily making $30+ an hour, no doubt about it.

I think that commonly hygienists are confused with dental assistants and the 2 professions are VERY different. No formal education is required to be a dental assistant whereas the schooling to become a dental hygienist is very similar to becoming a nurse.

I just met with an academic advisor yesterday for entering the nursing program, I only have to take 2 classes before I can apply. 3 credit Psychology (life span) and 3 credit Human genetics; both can be taken on-line.

Honestly, the pre-requisites for the dental hygiene program were harder than the nursing pre-reqs. We had to have 1 yr of chemistry in addition to the 1 year of anatomy. Microbiology is indeed required (contrary to what another poster thought) as is nutrition, pathology and pre-calculus as well as the whole group of social sciences and humanities. (PSYCH, SOC, WRITING etc,)

Also, part of the reason hygienists are paid well is supply and demand. There are only so many hygiene schools with very small class sizes. The hygiene school I went to only accepts 16 students per year, most of them accept between 20 and 28 students a year. Contrarily each and every community college in my city offers a nursing program and each program graduates more students. The program I am applying to takes 80 students a year.

Part of the reason hygiene schools are few and far between is because accreditation standards dictate that each hygiene school run it's own clinic and see patients on-site (as opposed to nursing clinicals which are mostly done off-site through contracted hospitals etc. if I understand this correctly). It is very expensive for these schools to own and operate a dental clinic, but not very expensive to send students out to the local hospitals for clinicals; if I am not mistaken; some nursing programs are even paid by the hospitals that they send students to; is this correct? So instead of a huge expense to a college; a nursing program is actually a slight income generator.

That's my take on it anways.

Dental hygiene is a very demanding and difficult job with great pay and great hours. Hygienists are NOT overpaid by any means. In fact, from what I can see in my research thus far; nurses seem to be underpaid (I mean that only as a complimentm not an insult). If hygienists are routinely making $35 an hour; then nurses should routinely be making $35-40 an hour or more, IMO.

But, you cannot undervalue the importance of your benefits. Many hygienists receive NO benefits whatsoever; strictly hourly. A great benefits package with medical and retirement and vacation is easily worth $5-10 an hour.

hope this helps somewhat!