The primary responsibilities of the dental hygienist as consumer advocate are to protect human and legal rights of clients and assist them to obtain the best possible care. A consumer advocate may also influence legislators, health agencies, and other organizations to bring existing health problems and available resources together to improve oral health care. A dental hygienist as a consumer advocate may assume this role in public dental programs, dental referral systems and clinical practices. Settings may include hospitals, community health agencies, dental services, individual patient care settings, and lobbying activities for legislative changes. The dental hygienist has the opportunity to work with a wide variety of patients, and to exercise creativity in the approach to client management and oral health education.
Salary can be quite good, especially in the larger, metropolitan regions.
Dental hygiene offers tremendous work schedule flexibility between full or part-time positions in a variety of settings. Disadvantages Dental hygienists cannot work independently in most states. The associate degree is most often found in a community or technical college setting, whereas the certificate and baccalaureate degree are most likely housed in a university. Many dental hygienists initially earn an associate or certificate degree, and then continue their education towards a baccalaureate and advanced degree. Specific dental hygiene licensure requirements vary by state, but all states have three types of requirements - educational, a written exam, and a clinical exam.