Dental Hygienist Career

As a freshman in college, I’m supposed to know what career I want to pursue in the future. However, I’ve had troubles deciding what I want to do with my life because of the continuous growth and expansion of the work industry. All I know for sure, is that I want to positively impact another individual’s life. It is important that I am involved in a career that contributes to a person’s happiness. I want to be “that person” that help boost another individual’s confidence. At this moment, I have two careers in mind: Dental Hygiene or an Elementary School Teacher. Both of these careers are different, but in order for me choose a career it needs to these four focus areas: decent work environment, a stable work schedule, high pay/salary, and good
benefits. One of the main focus area that will help me decide on a career is a decent work environment. Both careers create a challenging, yet doable work environment. For example, Dental Hygienist work in close proximity will other dental staff. Thus, one must be able to work in close-knit places. In addition, being a dental hygienist can be physically damaging because you’re purposely putting your body through pain. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics 2014, an important skill is to handle staying in a position for a long period of time, such as bending over. As a result, this can cause back and neck pain. In addition, holding instruments for long periods can trigger carpal tunnel syndrome. On the other hand, being an Elementary Teacher can be mentally challenging or stressful. The main job of a teacher is to teach students, which is a difficult task. Teachers are often frustrated because students refuse to learn and prevent other students from learning. Another problem that teachers face is the limited amount of educational tools, such as textbooks and computers. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). With the lack of resources, teachers compromise students learning opportunity. Whether a student is a successful or not, As a result of this, teachers are held accountable. On the upside, both jobs are generally independent work without supervision of a higher ranking individual within the field. The second most important focus area that I need to take into consideration is a stable work schedule.
Its important that I have a “steady” schedule, so that I can plan my personal-life around it. Both careers offer full-time work, 30 - 40 hours per week. However, a Dental Hygienist is more of a part time job. A Dental Hygienist usually works for two clinics at the same time. As a result, has more room for “flexibility”. According to a “profile -survey” that was done though Registered Dental Hygiene Magazine, Hygienist under the age of 30, 55% worked 30-40 hours per week. Whereas Hygienist that were 51- 61 years old, 45% worked 30-40 hours per
week. On the contrary, Elementary School Teachers have a steady work schedule.
Teachers usually work during school hours. However, in order for teachers to do their job, they must create a “lesson-plan”. An Elementary School Teacher are usually making these plans on before and after classes on weekends. To clarify, even though teacher finish work when the school day is over, they are still working to prepare for work. The typical work schedule for teacher is a 10 month, Monday- Friday schedule with a two month summer period (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). The third focus area that is important for me to decide a career path is a high pay/salary. According to Dental Career Education, the entry level pay for Dental Hygienist is $64,100 per year and $31.24 per hour. In the higher, more experienced percentile, the yearly pay is about$74,420 and $35.78 per hour. To further my research, I went ahead and found out O’hau and Maui’s salary for Dental Hygienist. On the island of O`ahu with about 710 people employed, Dental Hygienist gets paid around $34.01 per hour. Then on Maui, with only about 250 people employed, Dental Hygienist gets paid $35.01 per
hour. On the other hand, Elementary School teachers get paid less because it is a government- based job. The lowest 10 percentile of teachers gets paid less than $35,360 per year and the medium percentile of teachers pay salary is around $53,400. Lastly, those in the highest percentile receives $83,160 per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find specific salaries for Hawaii because it varies depending on years of experience and the different levels of education. The fourth and last factor that I need to consider in determining my future career is benefits that the job provides. In both careers, the benefits can be one and the same depending the employer and/or the company. For example, both Dental Hygienist and Elementary School Teachers have the opportunity to obtain health benefits, such as dental and/or family insurance. Another example that could apply to both careers is job security, which also depends on the number of years of experience an individual has. Lastly, just as I have mentioned earlier, a good work schedule is big benefit in both careers. Although the careers are completely different, it provides options that make it suitable for the lifestyle an individual prefers. For instance, if an individual wants a schedule that you can make your own or move around with, a Dental Hygienist would work perfectly. On the other hand, if you prefer a steady schedule with strict dates, an Elementary School Teacher will work fine as well. After researching and learning more about these careers, I can say that I still haven’t decided what I want to pursue in the future. As you can tell in the essay, both careers are have positive and negative factors. For example both careers have good benefits and a challenging, yet doable work environment. However, a Dental Hygienist doesn’t have a stable work schedule and an Elementary School Teacher does. Also, Dental Hygienist gets paid way more than a school teacher. With all these pieces of information, I should have made a choice. Before creating this essay, I was 99.9% sure that I wanted to pursue a career in the dental field. I was well aware of the salary as well as the potential harm the job can do to the body. Then when I decided to take the Careerlink Test, the results showed otherwise. Instead of having Health Services as a suggestion, I got suggestions such as Accounting or a Bank worker. The weird thing is that it doesn’t surprise me. I know that my skills would perfectly match an “office- type” job, but I would rather go in the opposite direction. Maybe this is a sign that I should change my major and pursue a career in the “Business World”. But as of right now, I plan to continue taking the classes that I have registered for as well as continuing my research for a future career.