A dental assistant works in the office and provides some direct aid to the dentist and does do some supervised dental tasks.
But a dental hygienist works to clean the teeth and perform dental hygiene and does no dental office work in the actual office where paperwork and billing is being done.
Dental assistants also prepare and organize the dental tools that the dentist needs to do the dental work.
Dental assistants also do appointment scheduling and record keeping and some patient care.
A dental hygienist works in the patients mouth and wears a surgical mask and gloves as well as safety glasses and inspects and cleans the patients mouth.
The dental hygienist examines the mouth inside to look for any possible signs of gingivitis, gum disease, tooth decay, provides preventative dental care and oral hygiene.
Full Time work for a dental hygienist is around 40 hours per week for a younger dental hygienist and for an older more experienced dental hygienist they may only work 36 hours per week.
Also most dental hygienists do not work holidays or weekends and only work full time or part time and usually they do not work overtime either.
Most dental hygienists work normal business hours like other jobs.
A registered nurse or nurse however could work Holidays in the hospital if there are demands for them to work on those holidays or weekends.
So if you become a dental hygienist you do not have to work holidays or weekends which is good because we all need a break from work no matter how much we love being in that career.
Having a Bachelor's degree does help when it comes to jobs including being a dental hygienist.
However just because you have a bachelor's degree it doesn't mean that you will get paid any more money than a dental hygienist who doesn't have a bachelor's degree.
Most dental hygienists get paid the same income no matter what but it's still good to have a bachelor's degree as you'll likely get hired faster and it will help you land other jobs and careers as well.
You can get your dental hygienist degree through regular college or even online college courses.
You can get your dental hygienist degree online.
There are online programs where you can study and take tests on becoming a dental hygienist to get your degree online.
Just like other college courses you don't have to always be at a college just to study on things you want to work on becoming.
Many colleges are also offering study online courses where you do the studying online and then take the test.
It's usually cheaper to study for courses such as being a dental hygienist online than it would be to attend a regular college.
Also you do not have to commute to college.
However even when you do complete your study for a dental hygienist degree online you still need to go to a college to take some hands on courses to be shown on what to actually do.
Then you become a dental hygienist and can get hired easily.
But you'll need some hands on experience however most of the education for the dental hygienist course can be done online.