Lesson 13-Job shadow

Name: Keveny Daley

Title: Dental Hygienist

Company: Jones Dental

1. Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I really enjoy helping others feel more confident about their smile. It is interesting to see a patient arrive who hasn’t been to the dentist in a while and had their teeth cleaned and see how they are a little self conscious, but after I am finished with their appointment and cleaning their teeth they leave with a bigger smile and a little more confidence about themselves. Plus I like the process of getting to know my patients in a simple of a task as cleaning their teeth. You would be amazed how much you can learn about someone just by cleaning plaque off of his or her teeth.

2. Q: What is your typical day like?

A: I arrive at around 6:45am, check my schedule for the amount of patients I am going to have and what instruments I will need and set up my first two rooms for my first two patients. Then I read their charts, learn of their health history and insurance.  I check their insurance just incase they need more work done that day, I like to know what their insurance coverage is, because that is usually the first question they ask me. Then I go about my day seeing about 6-10 patients depending on the schedule and difficulty of the appointment. And have about an hour for lunch and recuperation for my wrists, being a hygienist is tough on your wrists, and then around 5pm I clean my exam rooms and head home. Some days we have a staff meeting, some days if my schedule fell apart then I have to fill it with people wanting an appointment sooner, some days are just slow and I have to find things to do around the office like restock, verify insurance, assist the doctor, etc. But a typical day starts at 7am and ends around 5 or 5:30pm and I see about 9 patients.

3. Q: What kind of experience would you recommend to pursue this type of career?

A: I would recommend at least working in a dental office for 6 months before committing to this career. A job in a dental office is different than most people think.  And I generally see dental assistants start out in this field and say they want to be a hygienist but after a few months in a dental office they quit or change their mind.  You need to know that the work you are doing isn’t glamorous. And it’s hard. Some people going into hygiene thinking it’s an easier high paying career, but it’s not. It’s messy. You deal with spit, throw-up, patients having anxiety attacks, blood, and many other gross fluids. I say this only because when I was in school a fellow student who had worked in the dental field told me to try it out before I go through all of my schooling, and I am so glad I did.  It isn’t for some people; thankfully I can handle those things and also enjoy the work I do on a day-to-day basis.

4. Q: What do you like least about your job?

A: You would think from my previous answer that I wouldn’t like all of the gross fluids I come in contact with daily, but in reality the thing I like least about my job is actually the insurance and people canceling their appointments.  As a hygienist a big part of my job is to keep patients.  If patients don’t come back every 6 months then the doctor doesn’t’ have a good established practice.  It’s important that I see these patients on a regular basis, so that I know them and they trust me. I need to establish a good relationship with my patients and keep their teeth healthy.  It’s tough when a patient doesn’t come in because insurance doesn’t cover something. I really don’t like to see that happen.  For my patient and me. For me because my salary often depends on the schedule I keep full and for my patient because teeth health is a lot more serious than many think.  Unhealthy gums can lead to plaque buildup in your arteries and lead to heart disease. So it’s tough for me to see patients cancel appointments and not take it serious.

5. Q: How many hours in a week about, do you work?

A: I work about 35 hours a week on a normal workweek.  I work Monday thru Thursday with Friday thru Sunday off. A lot of established offices have that schedule, but some newer offices need to build clientele and have to work Fridays late and Saturdays early to accommodate people who work in a career where the only time they can come into the dentist is during after their work hours on Friday after 5pm and Saturday mornings.  I worked at a couple offices like that straight out of school. It was a good experience for me, but I prefer the workweek I have now especially since I am a mom. It’s nice to have 3-day weekends.

6. Q: How well did your college experience prepare you for this job?

A: Well, my experience in hygiene school was the most helpful. I learned the skills I needed for my job directly. My college “experience” prepared me by teaching me dedication and discipline.  I learned to work hard, study hard, and to be competitive to keep my job by being the best I could. Hygiene school was very competitive to get in to. So I had to be the best I could and work very hard, which has been the case in the field as well, because there are always younger and newer hygienists who want my job.  But continually keeping up my skills and abilities to be a great hygienist has been important. So the college experience of hard work has probably prepared me the most.

7. Q: What are some benefits to working in this field?

A: Great dental work! Usually for Free! It’s a great perk to working in a dental office. Dental work is expensive so its nice to have it be free. The dentist you work for generally wants his staff to have a nice looking smile, so he will usually provide free dental work for his staff. You may not get the most convenient appointment, but it’s free. There are times when a patient has cancelled or no showed and I have hopped in the chair and had a filling done and then seen my next patient an hour later, numb cheeks and all. 

8. Q: What is the salary range for a person in this field?

A: A hygienist can make anywhere from $30,000 a year to $80,000 a year depending on hours worked, location of job and years of experience. But a typical hygienist working 35-40 hours a week averages about $50,000 to $60,000.

This experience was extremely helpful to me. I enjoyed hearing the candidness of the job from Keveny and felt that she was honest about all aspects of the career. I learned that there is a lot more to being a hygienist than just cleaning teeth. By doing a job shadow I realized that I definitely want to still pursue this career. It’s seems like hard work and a challenge to stay committed but I like a good challenge. I think it was good for me to know that I will be dealing with things such as canceled patients, having to keep the doctors schedule full, insurance, etc. I am glad I did this interview and feel that it only helped open my eyes to areas of the field that I was unaware of before. I feel that after this course I am much closer to pursuing this career that I was at the beginning.