Not nursing, but dental hygienist related....

[tfleuter, BSN, RN]

I apologize in advance for this not being nursing related, but I have been unable to find much in the way of DH message boards and realize that some nurses started out as hygienists, or have friends and family in that field...

I have a family member who lives in Ohio and is considering a career change into the dental hygienist field. I was curious to see what the demand is right now for her area, but only came across one website for hygienists to post and what I read was very discouraging. It seems most agreed that the market was over saturated and that many (new and experienced) DH's were having a hard time finding a job.

For anyone out there who has any connection to this field, does this seem to be the case in Ohio? I don't want to discourage my relative from pursuing this career, but would like to give her the heads up if she will have a difficult time finding employment after graduation. She is also considering working as a dental assistant first to get a feel for profession, but with the local school charging over $5000 for a 12 week certification course, that seems like an expensive investiment. Is it worth working as a dental assistant first?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide some insight! I realize this may be a shot in the dark being as this is a nursing forum and especially narrowing it down to the Ohio area, but I am hoping to find some info relative to where she lives.