nurses vs. dental hygenist salary

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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. :uhoh3: 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?

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. :uhoh3: 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?

Well i think i have heard that many times the hygenists aren't quite fulltime and therefor many do not receive benefits, and also they are expected to bring in more business for the dentist so this could be a reason. I personally don't begrudge them their salaries, it has to be mind numbingly boring work after a few years of the same thing, and there is nowhere to move up. They do a great job and if I could stand to look in nasty mouths all day i may have gone into this field instead of nursing.

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How do you become a dental hygenist?

You take virtually the same prereqs as Nursing but i think they aren't required to take micro and the nursing students weren't required to take physics. then the program is 2 yrs at a community college, or there are some bachelors programs around, but you can enter into practice with an associates degree.

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Specializes in ICU, med/surg, school nursing.
well i am a dental nurse in the UK and i have to admit..... are pay is crap!

I am paid £6.00 an hour! And my boss makes an awful amount of money . Yet if i wasn't there she would be unable to practice as she needs a chaperone.

Plus dental nurses, like Nurses, have all the hard work to do and most of the time know exactly what the problem with the patient is and usually could do their bosses job with their eyes closed! Yet they still seem to complain about how hard they work!

Loads of b*llocks

Hi missmarley,

As far as I know the profession of a dental nurse in the UK is equal to the dental assistant in the US. Not the same thing as a dental hygienist!!!

I was an RN in Hungary, and when I moved to the US I became an RN here as well, trhough a long process. But before I did this I worked for 4 1/2 years as a dental assistant. This meant I worked side by side with the dentist, and got paid about the same as you (depends on the dentist, too). And altough some assistants (you have to be registered) are able to clean teeth here, most of the time this will be the job of a registered dental hygienist (RDH).

As for the OP, I think hygiene is a very hard job, to have to sit all day and clean tartar off people's theet. One would also have to be very knowledgeable of the mouth's anatomy, be gentle, be able to diognise certain conditions, take great x-rays, give local anesth. for perio cleanings, etc. And on top of all this have to be very pleasant with the patients, so the practice can grow, as somebody mentioned before me.

I don't know so much about the salary difference. The only hygienist who ever told me their salary made about $30/hour with 20 years of experience.

I sure hope so that one in nursing would be paid better after 20 years. At least in a hospital setting.

;)

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There is obviously a market for them so they deserve what they make. There arent as many hygienists and I guarantee you they dont have the job security we do. Their hours though kill ours. Basically they have their positive and negatives as do we.

I dont see one being more professional than the other. I have seen both be really unprofessional. The last hygienist I went to though was horrible but in no way do I let that affect my opinion of their profession.

I am happy with the way nursing is percieved. I will not say we are better than anyone but I will say in my experience there is no other group including doctors or hygienists that can say they are more honest, professional, or caring than we are.

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Around here the hygeinists do make substantially more money, but my g/f told me part of the reason is that they don't work full time, then don't get any benefits. When you add in insurance and such our salaries are up there close to theirs if not more (depending on the benefits).

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I had full benefits (health insurance, 401k) in offices where I worked full-time. (In dentistry, full-time is usually 4 days a week.)

On the other hand, I also had a few years where I preferred working fewer days per week, or in a variety of offices. I'd just ask for enough more $ per day to balanced it out.

The flexibility is great. Hygienists can work however many or few days we want to, either in the same offices, or by doing sub work, going from office to office, which helps stem boredom.

I think if you look at it by hours, hygiene really does pay significantly more.

The only drawback, IMO, was the redundancy of it all.

[edit - clarity]

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My sister in law is a hygienist and makes $38/hour. There are some in the Seattle area that make $50/hour. She works 3 days a week and has full benefits. She also picks up extra hours for another dentist whenever she wants them. Hygienists are in HUGE demand around here and can get work whenever they want. The hours are great. I considered it because of all this, but I just can't see myself doing that for the rest of my life!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

motorcycle mama: How do you become a dental hygenist?

My A&P lab partner is going to dental hygenistry. She has to take all the pre-reqs that I do for nursing. I think that there is a more of a supply and demand, because she is the only one that I have met in the last two years of going to school, going to denistry. Also not as many schools offer the hygenitist program. There are 6 schools in my area that offer nursing, and only two of those have a dental program.

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Specializes in NICU.
I just could not spend my day inside other peoples' mouths!!! Monotonous and GROSS---

I'll drink to that! :cheers:

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Wow ... I guess it's true ...

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, dental hygienists make, on average, $2.74 an hour more than RN's do nationwide ...

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29He.htm

I never would have guessed that ... especially since there are so many dentists competing for business in my town.

:typing

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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. :uhoh3: 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?

I don't know about now but when I graduated nursing school in 96 nurses were making about $18.00/hr dental hygenists about $30.00/hr.

X-ray techs in a lot of places make more then nurses and ultra sound techs make a lot more money then nurses.

Just the way it is.

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X-ray techs in a lot of places make more then nurses and ultra sound techs make a lot more money then nurses.

Just the way it is.

Actually ... not really ...

X-ray techs make about four dollars an hour less than RN's, sonographers make about the same.

If you really want to compare, here's the Department of Labor statistics on most healthcare professions ...

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29He.htm

:typing

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