Looking for a dental job in Florida? Positions for dental hygienists are expected to grow during the near future.
Jobs for dental hygienists are expected to grow faster than the national average for all jobs through 2010. This is mostly because of an increase in demand for dental care and an increased level of need for services of hygienists previously performed by dentists. Overall, job prospects are expected to remain good.
In the State of Florida, dental hygienists earn an average annual salary of $51,168, and most workers in the occupation earn between $38,854 and $57,699. Dental hygienists usually work for dentist’s offices, the federal government or medical doctor’s offices.
Dentists are required to be licensed in the state in which they work, and to qualify from a license, a dental hygienist must graduate from dental hygiene school and pass a clinical and written exam. Most states also require dental hygienists to pass a legal exam. A bachelor’s degree is usually required for research, teaching or clinical practice in public or school health programs.
Dental hygienists often work removing deposits from teeth, teaching patients how to practice good oral hygiene and providing other preventative dental care. Dental hygienists may be responsible for: removing calculus, stains and plaque from teeth, taking and developing dental x-rays, applying cavity-preventative agents such as fluorides and sealants and preparing clinical and lab diagnostic tests for dentists to review.
Florida’s education and health services industry as a whole had a total non-farm employment of 1,038,700 during July 2008, an increase of 3.3 percent from last year, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This industry has increased from last year every month this year, by 3.4 percent in February, by 3.3 percent in March, by 3.3 percent in April, by 3.5 percent in May, by 3 percent in June and by 3.3 percent in July.