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Dental Hygienists enjoy a high standard of life which includes a comfortable work environment, flexible hours and more importantly dental hygienist salaries are generally generous. The dental Hygienist salary is dependent on many factors including location, type of practice, education, and experience.
Fresh dental hygiene school graduates can expect a compensation of $25-$30 per hour. With experience, this can go to high five figures and even six figures. Not bad for two years of schooling. That’s usually what many non-dental hygienists think about the typical hygienist salary. The dental hygienists themselves feel otherwise.
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While many dental hygienists seek full time employment with a full time dental hygienist salary and benefits, some work part time either voluntarily (mostly moms with young kids) or because that is the only job they can find.
In the last few years, many private colleges flooded the market with a large number of dental hygienists now seeking employment. This created an excessive supply and negatively impacted the dental hygienist salary and income. This seems to impact some cities and provinces more than others. In particular, Toronto dental hygienists in Ontario are most affected. Vancouver dental hygienists are also feeling the pinch.
A recent survey showed that the average hourly dental hygienist salary to be highest in Alberta at around $56/hour. So the average yearly dental hygienist salary in Calgary or Edmonton is $112k for 40 hour work week and 2 weeks of vacation per year.
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The dental hygienist salary in British Columbia (BC) currently stand at $43/hr . So the average yearly dental hygienist salary in Vancouver is around $86k for full time employment.
The dental hygienist salary in Ontario (ON) currently stand at $40/hr. Accordingly, the average yearly dental hygienist salary in Toronto or Ottawa is around $80k for full time employment.
The dental hygienist salary in Quebec (QC) is the lowest at $27/hour. This translates into an average yearly dental hygienist salary in Montreal of $54k for full time dental hygienist salary.
For the remaining provinces, the dental hygienist salary is $46/hr in Nunavut and Northwest Territories, $43 in Newfoundland and Labrador, $37 in Manitoba, New Brunswick (NB), $36 in Saskatchewan (SK), and $31 in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Manitoba (MB) and Nova Scotia (NS).
The dental hygienist salary in canada will vary between cities and provinces. It also depends on how much experience one has. Straight out of school, one can expect to be paid $25-35 per hour with more pay in Toronto and Vancouver. With more experience, one may get $50/hour compensation and even more if they venture on their own. There is a growing trend of dental hygienists providing dental cleaning without the presence of a dentist. This is appealing to patients as they would pay much less than in a dental office.
But if you live in a big city in Quebec, Ontario, BC, or Alberta you should expect to make at least $25 as a dental hygienist straight out of dental hygiene school and more as you acquire skill and experience.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Actually, dental hygienist Salary in Canada should not be less 30$ per hour. Working in big Cities should be a bit more. I am a dental Hygienist in Toronto and after graduation I got a job at 40$/hour. I believe that Dental Hygienists Salary in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal should be about the same but if any of you has hands opn experience to share please do, I wonder which province has the highest salary for dental Hygienists.
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So is the situation getting better or worse for dental hygienists salary wise?
In other words, are dental hygienists making more today than 3 years ago?
What should a dental hygienist do to land a great job and an excellent salary in Vancouver?
And how would you define a great job and salary for a dental hygienist?
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The job situation is not good for Dental Hygienist’s in Canada. There are too many private schools that have opened flooding the market. If you truly are passionate about this career, then go to a community college and get your Dental Hygiene Diploma. As for salaries, if you go into this profession for the money you will not get any satisfaction out of your career choice. You can certainly make good money depending on the city/province. Quebec offers the least pay but has the most job prospects. Good pay is anywhere from thirty to fifty plus dollars an hour.
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The job situation for Dental Hygienists in Canada is getting very bad. There are so many quick start private dental hygiene schools that have opened up, especially in Ontario (34) , that are graduating so many dental hygienists that there is not enough work for them ANYWHERE. It’s become terrible for everyone, as many cannot get jobs and the ones who do get offered alot less to work. Because they are paying huge student loans from these private schools, they are taking the 2 days a week job for peanuts JUST to get work. Pay is decreasing all across the country and sadly, there are TONS of resumes sitting all over dentist’s offices so they can pick and choose. Pay is going DOWN and the whole job is not as good as it used to be. You are running all day with little time for lunch or anything.
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I live in New Brunswick and graduated 4 years ago. I make $30 an hour
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If your not a hygienist, go into nursing! The market is going to need at least a few years to settle. The CDHA is making some significant changes to its accreditation and these kiosk dental hygiene schools will not be able to meet the credentials for accreditation. What needs to change is this, if you are not an accredited program, you should simply not be allowed to write an accreditation accepted National exam. It goes against all of our principals to allow this to keep happening. They prey on these students who do not know enough to apply to accredited programs and wind up having to work twice as hard and be labelled an “Ontario” hygienist. It is ruining our bound as hygienist and bring the profession down. AND who do you think pushed for all these fly by night programs in the first place??? that’s right the good old DDS”
now they have an abundance of hygienists and the wages are decreasing. Watch Dental Assistants wages start decreasing next. Its a trickle affect.
I have been a dental hygienist to 14 years in BC.
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Lu, That money just isn’t here anymore. Dentists here in Vancouver are doing this.. Calling the College of Dental Surgeons and asking if they can tell their 20+years in service hygienist if they can lower their wage from 45 to 30. The college is saying of course you can
There is no union and if the hygienist refuses she must quit. She is then entitled to 1 week for every year served. period. Most dentist think this is saving money in the long run..
I make 50 dollars an hour and I have been with the same dentist for 14 years. New grads are lucky to get 35 to start here right now and I believe that is a pretty fair wage for a novice hygienist. It take a good 2 years to become fully skilled as a hygienist once you leave school. I also teach DH.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I’ve been out of school for 2 years and I make 50 dollars an hour in northern BC. Granted I live in a rural community to make this wage, but straight out of school I earned 35 dollars an hour on PEI. So the money was always pretty decent in my case.
IMO the new accreditation regulations can’t come soon enough, wages are going to fall and job availability are going to be affected as well (one of the reasons I moved from PEI)…I’m not sure if I can even get a job when I move back….not to mention that these colleges tarnish hygiene’s reputation as a profession as well. It really gets my goat when patients assume you went to community college….I completed a 4 year BSc (biology, health sciences) and graduated from Dalhousie for hygiene. It may sound harsh but if these people can’t get accepted into an accredited program in the first place they shouldn’t be in the profession. Ontario shouldn’t be the next best option…..you shouldn’t be able to buy into a program and it does nothing for dental hygiene’s recognition as an autonomous profession.
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i was wondering on average, how many hours does a hygienist work per week per place…i know some ppl may work at a few places in order to make up for full time hours, is that correct?…im just starting at george brown college in toronto and would like to have an idea of how its like…thnx
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I know of a few George Brown College grads from the last couple of years.
Some are not finding any jobs at all. Some work 4-8 hours per week. None work full-time
25-30 per hour. Ask around.
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Most jobs being offered right now are part time. If you want full time work you’ll probably have to work 2-3 jobs. Since the recent flood of RDH grads, wages (at least the range of wage) in many cities across Canada have gone down. This is due to RDH’s being desperate to find jobs and offering to work for a lot less. Accepting $30 or less is a bit of an insult to our profession, and it tells Dentists that our skills aren’t worth that much. We are, and they make a lot of money off of us.
If you can’t find a job, think outside the box and make one
Thinks of the communities that need RDH’s and sell it.
Good Luck
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i want to know how long does it take to become a dental hygienist
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Hi I’m a RDH living in MTL wanting to move to Vancouver! It seems like it’s not too easy to find a job there!! Any suggestion?
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For Ash,
You would need to write the Canadian Board exam in order to work in Canada, and then become registered/licensed to work in that province or territory.
I am incredibly proud to be a Dental Hygienist and love what I do. I know I help to make a difference in not only my patients oral health, but also their
overall health.
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@mary donker:
that was a completely inappropriate comment. you chose your path and we chose ours. their is a staggering range for dental hygiene salaries across canada and you have no right to say what we should or should not make. we are health professionals who worked our asses off in school and to find job’s. i bet any one of us could do your job – but i bet you could not do ours.
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Hey, I’m looking into going back to school and as it stands dental hygienist is at the top of the list. I am curious about a few things and I’m hoping some of you could help me out..
First of all, I’m wondering what would be the best program to take. I know there’s some courses that are only about 16 months to complete and others that take a few years. I’m 30 now and I don’t want to spend a bunch of time in school but I also don’t want to try to rush things if it’s worth putting the time into it. Is there a school that you would recommend?
I’m in Alberta right now but I’m a bit of a wanderer. I keep moving between Alberta and BC, and Ontario is another option in the back of my mind as well. How hard is it to move to another province in this career. I know you have to get licenced in which ever province you are going to be working in but what is the timeline on that??? Is it just doing an exam to show that you’re qualified, or what, lol? And once you have a licence for a particular province is it a lifelong thing or would you have to redo your licence if you moved back to that province?
I’m also curious how hard it is to find work in this field? Is there going to be job openings in the next 5- 10 years, or am I going to be fighting for work?
And on a more personal note, if you could tell me one example of what you absolutely love about the job and also what you ‘hate’ about the job what would it be???
What ever information you can help me out with would be wonderful and very helpful
Thanks so much for your help!!
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Hi Frank! You paint with too thick-a-brush! Starting out is never easy. If you are straight out of dental school and are determined to start your new dental practice – lower you expectations a bit and those numbers as well. Start as an associate for now. RDH’s cost money, as all dental staff does. However, investing in a good dental hygienist (I am one of those
) will pay back big time! We are productive, great referral source, you technical support when you ask politely, and vesatile in practice management. Plus, our work is very straining – no one ever pays for nothing! Take care, and good luck finding it easy to change your mind about how much you would actually pay for an RDH. 
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I agree fully that good staff costs money. And I am the first to agree that a good hygienist will pay back. However, the discussion centred on why hygienist rates had changed so much over the last few years. The essence of the issue is that for the longest time hygiene was a money maker for many dentist. (And yes I do believe that dentists were part of the problem!) Everyone was looking at how much could be billed and how much was being paid. And lo and hehold, we had practises that were “hygiene mills”. Dentists realized that a lot of money could be made by having very productive “hygiene departments” and hygienists realized that they were crucial to the effort. So the merry-go-round began. Dentists began outbidding each other for salaries to hire hygienists and hygienists were happy to make the switch. And so hygiene rates kept spiralling up and up. Now there is an over abundance of hygienists so the supply and demand has reversed. (Too many hygienists, not enough jobs.) So now that salary rate is going down. The dentists had nothing to do with it. Just like hygienists, somebody figured out that there was money to be made and so the private colleges began opening up. And it is not going to go back to “the good old days”. Sure some colleges will close as prospective clients figure out that their graduates aren’t getting jobs but enought will adapt and improve enough that their graduates will pass the exams. And there are enought dentists out there who are tired of the high rates who will take some on as staff. I agree with everything that RussianCat states. (But I am not a new graduate and I don’t have any hygienists on staff so I don’t have an axe to grind.) I am just telling you what the thought process is on the other side of the fence. You don’t have to believe it but I guarantee you that this is what is being discussed.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Dental hygiene is predominately a female-driven profession. I would be regarded as an ‘older’ hygienist, meaning, I have expereience and I am not in my 20′s. There is something that is not being mentioned here and that is the fact that many dentists look to fill the office with young vibrant fresh ‘girls’, desperate to keep their jobs. This has pushed us older hygienists out, in the most indignant manner. In my case, the office had just been bought out and the new dentists was cutting back on everything, head rest covers, had to go, even air/water syringes to dry and blow off the patients teeth. One day, I walked into my office one day, and was informed that I was no longer employed here – no reason given, no letters stating I was late, no reason at all. I was still at the office 10 minutes later and in walks a new graduate to take my job. How much do yo think she was going to be getting paid? I was informed that after I left the the sterilizer broke and he attempted to make a dental assistant pay for it out of her pocket. Thanks to the Labour board she did not have to.
I later successfully sued the dentist. However, finding employment in Ontario is pathetic, I am under employed and have been that way for a very long time. What patients do not realize is that now, this surplus is a detriment to their oral healths. Many dentists are now getting away with murder, forcing the young and needy hygienist to commit insurance fraud, turn a blind eye when he/she states that they have a cavity and there is none — job creation program for the office and all will go along to keep their jobs. Way to go government, you threw women and patients under the bus and the regulatory bodies will never pull a dentists right to practice, they will just reprimand and hope that they do not get caught again.
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@Jack:
is that full time though? how many hours do you work and are you busy during the day?
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I’ll be starting out as a new grad in GTA area. What shall be the current hourly wage for a new graduate?
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Your hourly wage will be as low as they can get you to accept
.
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I am a “new grad” with over twenty five years experience in dentistry. There are NO jobs out there! And what Frank said about salaries is all true! New hygienists are getting paid as little as possible and there will be a line up at the interview each willing to take less pay and work crazy hours! A dentist that I worked for is now open seven days a week! A total hygiene mill! Think twice about your career choice! Do you really love it, or are you in it for the promise of excellent pay?
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i m a dentist and have 7 years experience in public health hospital based general practice along with evening private practice dealing with periodontal problems etc.i did my graduation(BDS) in 2003. now i want to move to Canada as dental hygienist,which is included in their priority professional list.
i request anyone who can advise me that should i do for it? may i be consider as oral hygienist on the basis of my previous experience? let me explain that nobody outside the Canada/USA can work as dentist prior to attending 2-3 years schooling at these countries,and it is so expensive that one cannot even think for that(as for as people from developing countries are concerned)
as only 12 days are left to apply for,should and can i apply for that?
I’ll be very thankful for your quick and kind words in this regards.
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I’d like to mention a very good point in regards to hygiene wages/salary. Considering that per hour a hygienist can bill anywhere from $250-380 an hour for a dentist, even $50 is not enough for what a hygienist does. Do you find it in another field? Physiotherapy gets commission and usually in upward of %50 as an example. I beg the differ we do not do much. Soft tissue treatments are one of the hardest tx there are. Of course competition aka dentists like to downgrade our value. I mean, our work only helps overall health (feel the sarcasm). KEEP YOUR HEADS UP and VALUE YOURSELVES. If you don’t no one will. Working with blood and by products, necrotic tissue and immune compromised patients requires not only practical but also theoretical skills. Peace out.
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You guys really need to understand the facts when it comes to a dental office. Put aside the fact that some dentist belittle us fellow dental hygienist. The fact of the situation is that it takes money to make money. You need to look at the whole picture when ur chair is empty the office losses money. How can a dentist payout without figuring out the numbers. You have to do the math. Not all the time do we bill $380 per patient. A typical 45-60 min appointment should cost anywhere from $156.00 ( 3 units of scale-3 mth perio scale, or $221.00 recall exam, 2 units of scale, prohpy, fl, bitewings). I know our profession is under alot of pressure but alot of the hygienist out there havent been out long enough to know the true game. I would not compare ourselves to physiotherapy because we have alot more risks involved. Do the math and figure out what your chair makes and what your chair losses in a month and then figure out if you should be getting $50 per hour? Do you think it’s fair with overhead costs, other employees, etc. Your not the only one in the office it’s take multiply people to run a successful business(office).
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What ‘concerned hygienist’ is forgetting is that the dentist has systems and emplyees in place to book appointments and make sure that they are kept, these employees are called “receptionsits”. Their jobs are to keep the recall and flow of patients in the office. So, when you are referring to the game, here is another comment, most dentists are forcing the dental hygienists to ‘overbill’. Yes, so, you have one patient who is in the chair for 45 minutes. They have a recall exam, 2 xrays and 3 units of scale (1 unit = 15 minutes, you do the math) and then a polish (depending on how greedy they are 1/2 unit, less than 7.5 minutes to 1 unit greater than 7.5 minutes, seriously who really has their teeth polished for greater than 7.5 minutes???)
So, 45 minute appointment
Exam (waiting for dentist) = 10 minutes
3 units of scale = 45 minutes
2 xrays = 7 minutes
1 unit of polish =7.5 minutes
GRAND TOTAL = one hour and 10 minutes BUT WAIT they were only seen for 45 minutes.
Here is the kicker, I was actually told by one dentist to scale for 15 minutes as I was cleaning too much, and then bill for the full 45 minutes.
Here is a great business model, that we are contributing to inorder to keep our jobs, so what was ‘soncerned hygienist’ stating that we need to account for chair time? I think that this business model already has!
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This is for “concerned hygienist”, I have been in this profession for over 20 years and have more insight than most people in this profession, it is not bitterness, it is ‘calling a spade a spade’. They do not calculate chair time and then decide this is how much you are worth per hour. Quite contrary, yes tis’ true they have calculated chair time and with the massive influx of hygienists who are now willing to accept less than what we use to get paid all the while the dental fee guide increases per year, dentists are having greater profits- that is the premise behind the calculation of chair time – it is a business plan. Facts are facts. Why is there a mass exodous of ‘older’ hygienists? Because they are easy to replace with a younger less experienced hygienist, er, lesser paid and have les potential of actually getting a salary increase at the next review which can be justified with things they have not learned yet
The dentist does not care if they are removing the subgingival calculus – do you have any idea of the degree of supervised neglect? All they care is if ‘you hurt’ my patient. Because then they may not come back = no return business = no money.
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One thing I have long wondered in witnessing this sad state of affairs in my profession, is why the heck do we not have a union like the nurses do? RNs wouldn’t put with this, and so why should we?
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I think Sara said it, nurses would never tolerate what is happening to this profession however, if we were unionized prior to self-initiation we may never had received it, I think the fact that we were privitized enabled that.
But she does make a good point, perhaps it is time and given the current working conditions that dental hygienists did unionize. But I do not see that ever happening they are too afraid to lose their jobs if it is that the dentist finds out. So, they will continue the abuse. But the women in this profesion also seriously undermine one another and that aids the dentists ability to treat us as they do.
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Just a question. Can dental hygienists in New Brunswick now work for themselves; ie. start a dental hygienist office and bill for services, either on their own, or preferably in a group of 2 or 3. As a follow-up to this, could s non-dental person (not a hygienist, and not a dentist) actually open up a dental clinic and hire dental hygienists to see patients? (A non-dentist owner would probably be willing to pay higher wages and offer better working conditions). Can someone comment. Thanks.
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What I find interesting is that a physiotherapist with an undergrad and a masters makes 34 an hour on average, but a dental hygeniest with 2 years of schooling makes up to 50 an hour and “taking 30 or less is an insult to the profession”. I’d say working conditions are just as difficult, and care provided just as if not more important, but because physio is covered less by insurance, they can’t charge as much. Let’s be serious, you’re not a policeman or a firefighter, and you make more than paramedics who save lives, and some of you even make more than RNs with a 4 year degree. In today’s economic times, seriously what are you complaining about if you have a job?
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@Deaner. Oh please, please, please, do not compare education to an hourly wage. That is not the correct thing to do. In fact, for an educated person (if you have a university degree) it only serves to undermine you, a big ops, on your part.
There are lots of dental hygienists with one or more university degrees. Please do not make these ignorant comments again. I think the crux of the issues here are that there is NO WORK. Use your university degree to decipher the common thread here
Hot debate. What do you think?
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@Tatiana
So you do not refute that 30 dollars an hour is an absurd rate to make for at least the JOB that is done? A Physio, RN, Paramedic and Firefighter all make less hourly wages and at least the last two directly save life, and RN can and a physio returns you to a normal life.
Sure Oral hygiene is important, but what you’re seeing is a normalization of wages, not a decrease in wages. And for the record I mentioned education as the requirement for entry into a profession. Those university degrees are not a requirement to entry into dental hygiene. An engineering degree, medical degree, law degree, physio master’s (or doctorate) and a nursing degree are professional degrees required for entry into that profession, hence education is relevant. How is that for a university level deciphering?
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@Deaner. You obviously have no respect for the job that dental hygienists perform nor for the job of dentists as both are dependent upon one another. You are attempting to corrolate public sector wages to privatized wages. You must look at how much money the hygienist is billing for the dentist per hour. Historically, the dental fee guide has steadily and yearly increased to compensate the dentists for inflation. Are you suggesting that the standards of living for dentists should be become better and the standards of living for hygienists become compromised? That is an elitest attitude. The rich become richer and the poor become poorer? If you are attempting to rationalize our lower wages and their higher earnign profits to a normailzation of wages, the ODA fee guide should be lowered? Should it not?
You need to review how the profession of dental hygiene is changing and that it use to be a university program and it is now increasing in length to 3 years and that self-initiation may be dependent upon the candidate having received a bachelor. Also, look on this page and you will see that UBC offers a Bachelor of dental hygiene. So, that is 2-3 years plus another 2-4 years, where are we at now?
Me thinks that you are upset that you have a university education and are paid far less than you feel you should be. Hey, stop complaining and go into hygiene and open your own office and then market yourself as having a univesity education and see if the public cares!
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To answer the last part first: I have a university degree in Aerospace Engineering but am very well compensated for the job I perform so that is not at all the issue. My entire point lies on you can enter a field with a 2 year college diploma, not how much education you can have, BUT THE MINIMUM REQUIRED FOR ENTRY INTO A PROFESSION.
By definition, if the ODA increases with inflation, then the standard of living remains constant, so there is no bourgeosie class struggles going on here.
As for the respect the the job performs, I ack that OH is important, but when compared to those other jobs listed is lower on the spectrum of care, yet is paid out higher. Thus I think you ARE fairly compensated, and that you were over compensated before and what you are seeing now is a correct realization of your worth to the dentist, just like global investors have re-evaluated Latin America’s value to the world economic forum and have dropped it’s market value by roughly 20% in the last 6 months in order to reflect actual worth and not perceived worth.
I’m not trolling this site, I was honestly just looking for how my 20 minute cleaning and 4 xrays cost $300, and was appalled at the comments I saw.
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@Deaner. You’re bill is most likely the result of the collateral damage to patients as a result of the saturation of the dental hygiene profession. These women are desperate to keep their jobs so, what the dentist wants the dentists gets. Even if it entails insurance fraud. After all, he/she is not responsible for what the hygienist bills time wise as she has her own regulatory body. However, when the dentist comes to the hygienist with certain billing expectations so that she/he might keep paying their mortgage. When the hygienist is investigated, the dentist has no liability. Ahhh the beauty of it for the dentist but hey, when she is in trouble for overbilling he can put an ad in the paper and get another hygienist – afterall there are so many desperate for the job that they too will succumb to the pressure to overbill- back in business!
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Deaner I don’t mean to be rude but where do I begin-
1. Umm I don’t know where you getting your information from – and I don’t even know if I have time to break down what you have said. I’d first go check your resources where you are finding other professions wages for you are quite wrong. I’ll start by correcting you that most hygienists will never see that 50 an hour you state, and if they did see 50 an hour I bet they were fired so some young inexperienced hygienist would greatly accept a job at 25 an hour (which is half). I’ll mention right now that you are not the only one that has friends, for I have friends too and a RN, Firefighter Police officer, not only makes more that you have stated they also get Medical and dental benefits but they also get paid holidays, secured pay, and a pentition I am sure I am missing more perks to their jobs. Hygienist can be called into work and be sent home for the day even if they only had one patient. You can’t financially support a family on the luck of the day.
2. If your so smart you would know that your mouth is connected to your body and that conditions in your mouth has been linked to many serious (deadly) conditions. Therefore I would argue that our intelligence can save lives.
3.Education is important I agree, and I would like to correct you that the reason why we are not a degree program is b/c with a degree come more accreditation. Which as you point out should increase wages. The DDS’s of Ontario want to make MONEY just like everyone one else. Instead of appreciating our back breaking profession
(At the age of 24 I pay cash from my own pocket for a chiropractor twice a week- I sir picked a profession with no medical benefits and am realizing that at the age of 24 my body isn’t going to be able to stay in this profession for much longer, I asked my Chiropractor if she gets many 24 year olds and her response was no, she said that not many hygienist are as young as me and it was due to my profession that I needed her care)
that brings in regular income to them they decided it would be better to degrade us by allowing (giving permission) to allow PRIVATE school to easily open left right and center. This flooded our professions market which was the DDS’s goal. Instead of proving our profession is just as reputable as DDS’s, and RN’s they allowed private schools to open. Not only can they make more money due to annual increases to the Fee Guide but they can bank more money since hygienists are a dime a dozen and they are hungry for anything they will pay them. This is exactly what they wanted. Let’s put this situation in laymen’s terms, let’s say the only ketchup you could buy is Heinz, well guess what now we have no name ketchup which is half the price of Heinz, we will even add that both types of ketchup sometimes comes from the same factory. Therefore which ketchup would you buy?
Instead of embracing us as a valuable member of their team they are making us expendable only to make their wallets thicker- and if you want to argue about the amount treatment time vs money you should be barking up the DDS tree. For they can make well over 500 for a 5 min job which is way more than a General Practitioner (Doctor). GP’s make pennies compared to DDS and I ask you who do you think is more important. I think you need to spend your efforts on dentists not hygienist!
Ok Mr. Aerospace Engineer where the f do you think your profession started? At one point degrees never even existed. So we all start at the bottom and the dental hygienist profession has a harder time than AEROSPACE maybe when Aliens start regulating your profession, you can talk to us. But right now you don’t have anyone preventing you from providing optimum care to the public. You Sir get the proper acknowledgement you worked hard for. So maybe you should help us hygienists that are trapped under the control of a profession that thinks just b/c they went to school for 4 years instead of 2 that they can control, and degrade our skills to purely thicken their wallets.
As you said you just wanted to know why a cleaning and 4 xrays cost you $300 -why don’t you talk to the ODA about their fees and where they get the right to charge $300 b/c as you claim a dental hygienist sees $50 of that $300 that is a $250 profit for the dds wallet. But as I stated 50 an hour is not likely anymore so there is more money in their wallet. So please Mr. Aerospace Engineer why don’t you bark up the DDS tree instead of ours. If you want to be really helpful then you will help us fight for making our profession a degree because till we are a degree we are slaves to the dentist. And once we are recognized as a degree profession then this monopoly will be broken and in the favour of your wallet.
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@Maria:
Maria;
Very very well said.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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“Ok Mr. Aerospace Engineer where the f do you think your profession started? At one point degrees never even existed. So we all start at the bottom and the dental hygienist profession has a harder time than AEROSPACE maybe when Aliens start regulating your profession, you can talk to us”
That doesn’t really help us much. First off ever since degrees were invented, engineering has been one of them, and ever since aerospace has been around it’s always been an engineering degree. And the comment about aliens? Lolcatz
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I’m sixteen and I’m trying to find out what career I want in the future. You are all much older and know more about the government and dentistry and I’m not sure who the DDS is. I was kind of confused reading many of what you all have to say.
It is sounding as if it is not a good idea to be a dental hygienist… As if dentists are looking for younger recent female grads to work crazy hours and get small wages. I’m not all about the money but this is not fair. Also, even if I continue to be a dental hygienist for years and I become experienced and all goes well… will I get kicked out to randomly be replaced by some young girl? Or will my salary just keep lowering and lowering over the years?
And since some of you are looking down at the chances of getting a job in Ontario with the overload of new dental hygienists, should I even go for it? Will I find a job or will I waste money and years only to end up working less than thirty bucks an hour? Or us that small wage only in the beginning?
Soo many questions, so little time! I gotta find out if I wanna go into this cuz I’m in highschool and I wanna take the right courses… honestly, this is so confusing.
I would love for someone to answer and explain to me.
Dental hygienist? YAY OR NAY? Will I not have a high chance applying for a job in Ontario, will I get kicked out in the future or be the reason some poor older hygienist is kicked out? Will I have lower wages or have continually decreasing wages? Is there a chance my wages could be high?
thanks!
Should I be a private dental hygienist and start in my basement (LMAO) and work my way up? Will it be too many years of hard work?
Sorry for overloading anyone’s brain… even answer some of my questions or explain it to me without words I might not know so I could understand
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Mariam you’re spelling and grammar suggests that you are well-over 16 years of age
…
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I think it’s unfair that RDH’s who have attended a private institute in Ontario have a bad rep.
How can you make assumptions that students studying at such a place are too stupid to get accepted into a community college. For many of us, we chose to attend a private accredited program due to personal circumstances. I was accepted to a community college but chose to go elsewhere because it’s the only schedule that could work for me and my family.
Also to BC hygienists, just because you need 1 yr of university science pre-req’s to get into a hygiene program does not make you a more skillful hygienist. We have the same amount of dental training so I don’t think we should have such a bad name.
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Well im 17 and was thinking about going into this field, but i really don’t know what to do. i want a job with a good salary and security. Is this the field for me? Do people not get employed full time? will i get replaced after a couple of year for a new low paying graduate? Is it hard finding a job?
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After 25 years as a dental hygienist I wish I had gone into something else. I get a raise every 5-8 yrs. that I have to fight for. I currently make $30 an hour which is pathetic considering the time I have put in. To top it off I still only get 2 weeks vacation. There is no job security and no jobs availabe. I am forced to stay at my place of employment because there is nothing else. If I knew then what I know now….there is no way I would go into hygiene.
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Hygiene wage should not decrease or be stagnate, the oda fee guide increases yearly .. So why should wage decrease? People have to understand that hygieisnt work in high risk environment. We work with blood saliva radiation and chemicals, we do not get benefits, pension or paid overtime unlike nurses, firefighter and police. Therefore we are compensated for all of the perks in our wage. Now that there is overflow of dh and they are taking less pay, it is lowering the standard of care and pay. It is unfortunate because dental healthcare should be based on pt’s needs and not what ins determines. A lot of dentist will pressure hygienist to bill 3-4 u of scale and full unit of polish and try to give the hygienist 45 mins with each patient… It is not ethical. Adv hygiene bill can range from 156 to 500/ per pt if rc, sc, or new pt. The hygienist does all the work and dentist comes in for 2 mins. We get 30-40 dollars If lucky and experienced and dentist has major profit and hygiene over head in minimal due to sterilization of instruments. We may use 10 dollars of product for that one pt. I think medical dr should be outraged that a dentist can bill 100 per month with just himsel and 2 hygienist an a medical dr makes how much per year? According to the Canadian salary a medical dr makes anywhere between 190-250 a year do the math.. Dentist are greedy and rcdso should take more action. Hygienist should be booked per pt needs and should bill per pt needs.
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I think this comment was disliked by the dentists
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A Dental Hygienist should at least make an hourly wage that is equivalent to the cost of 1 unit of scaling. If you are making less than that you are under paid for sure. PAID Sick days should also be equivalent to the number of working days per week. If you work a 3 day week …..3 paid sick days a year are what the majority of FAIR dentists who appreciate their staff will give to keep loyal staff .The majority of working RDH’s I know make $50./hr + bonus 500.00-1,200.00 @ x-mass time. RDH with years of experience in Alberta can make up to $80.00 /hr.in a Periodontal office. Maybe we should all move there.
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I meant this comment was disliked by the dentists!
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I am a CDA of 10 years. I make 20 an hour. I have no job security, medical/dental benefits ect. I can be asked to do things such as mop floors, pick up kids, get called the night before to not come in for a scheduled shift, I have had things thrown at me, yelled at in front of patients, you name it. I am not to complaining about it, just telling the truth. I am glad I have a job, but its not an easy profession to be in. There are no regulations since its privatized(no union), so the dentists do basically whatever they feel like to their staff. I used to like what I do, but the profession wears on you. Its all about the dentist making more money, when it should be about the patients and the treatment we are providing. I feel the majority of dental professionals are afraid to talk about how they truly feel about their jobs, and that’s sad because we should stand together to make a difference for our profession. I thought about being a hygienist many times but they don’t have it any better, if anything its worse, because they sure they make more an hour, but they sit in the same position all day doing repetitive motions, and they are on a time deadline to get as many cleanings done as possible. We have 3 Hygienist all working in my office part time, and one of them is working as a receptionist making probably less than I do. I would have chose a different career if I knew then what I know now. If you want a stable job with benefits then CDA/Hygienist is not it!
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@anon. Well when you thin about the fact that several hygienists develop carpel tunnel and have eye problems and are then replaced for younger versions, I suppose more than $8 is alright as that is probably the next level of employment she/he will be a candidate for or welfare as so many hygienists are currently applying for that as well. But hey, Congratulations! The dentists complain about paying high taxes, if they would simply employ hygienists and stop discriminating maybe they would not now be paying towards their welfare cheques!
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1985 U of A graduate….Good bye Dental Hygiene! I feel so blessed to have been part of a fabulous profession with so many people I’ve had the pleasure to work with and for. Most of all, I made a difference for a lot of patients, even part of saving a couple of lives. Now, after 2 years of trying to re-enter the workforce part-time(away 6 years due to familial reasons),I’ve researched the “dental hygiene market” and realize it’s time to move on. Not sure if this whole situation is due to the few entitled hygienists I’ve met in my years or the money-oriented dentists I’ve walked away from (interesting to see how many DDS were investors to private DH schools) but reality is the market is saturated with hygienists and jobs are almost non-existent. The “Buzz” out there is that quality of dental hygiene on various levels is not what it once was… how sad because the losers of this situation, aside from unemployed dental hygienists, is the public. So to all, searching for DH jobs…I sincerely wish you Good Luck!
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As a patient who stumbled upon this thread this actually disturbs me. I have dental phobia and it’s the poor person cleaning my teeth who has to deal with the worst of it. I want every person in the office paid well! I have NEVER understood why Ohip doesn’t pay dental or at least most of it. Our mouth IS part of our body and the logic that says “Oh, it’s only your teeth and gums” is a kind of cognitive dissonance on the part of the government. It’s as if they suddenly said “Oh, we’re not going to treat injuries to the hands anymore or cover them. We’re going to let that be paid privately.” Some of the problems I see being complained about here i.e. issues with billing and insurance could be eliminated.
I have a hard time trusting dentists anyway but, after reading this even more so in a way. As a older woman who needs to re enter the work place I’d love to know if my dentist is letting older women who work for him go in favor of paying less and hiring younger. That is NOT okay with me and I’d never give my business to such a person knowingly.
I think you all should further discuss unions. Some of what you are talking about here seems to border on illegal actions on the part of these dentists…hiring and firing practices and over billing for example. If I ever find out a dentist has over billed my insurance I would hit the roof! Our insurance only pays 1200 a year for dental and I have to be very careful how I use that money.
This was an interesting read. Good luck to you all and as a patient I certainly hope you get and keep better pay. I don’t think the average patient wants an unhappy person scraping on their teeth and gums!
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I’m a male recently applied to Dental Hygiene. Then I realized the ratio between males and females. Pretty shocking. Does anyone know if females or males recieve higher salarys?
email or reply timleznyak_@hotmail.com Thanks.
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I work 4 days a week at 2 different offices in Southern Ontario and make 30 and 33 $ an hour. I have 20 years experience and am not making anywhere near 50$ an hour. I love my job and I love the dentists I work with and our patients. Southern Ontario has been hit hard with jobloss but the ODA fee guide still goes up every year, but no raise for me. If I complain someone would be quick to replace me I’m sure, so I don’t rock the boat.
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I think all hygienists should quit and open up their own practices. Eliminate the middle man, give proper care, and make enough money to work 2 days a week. There would be plenty for everyone. Whether its a home, mobile or office association with other hygienists, I think the income out ways the overhead.
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