Registered Dental Hygienist - Center of - Adult Dental

Introduction

Are you are looking for a career with one of Tucson’s largest, most highly regarded healthcare organizations that offers generous benefits, competitive salaries, free health classes and makes a difference in the lives of more than one in ten Tucsonans?

To provide dental hygiene care and education to patients in traditional and non-traditional settings in the dental clinics, integrated medical sites, or community outreach settings.

• Promotes the patients’ dental health by delivering comprehensive dental hygiene services in a quality-oriented and cost effective manner.
• Supports the capacity of the dentists to deliver patient care by acting as a dental auxiliary in providing expanded function services to the patients.
• Supports the dentist and dental team members and works in a professional, cooperative and congenial manner with the entire dental staff (i.e., dentist, hygienists, residents, students, dental assistants, and dental receptionists).
• Develops strong working relationships with medical providers that enhance communication regarding the oral health needs of their patients.
• Collaborates with a broad spectrum of health professionals while working across traditional boundaries to achieve success.
• Develops rapport with patients, family, staff members and management.
• Supervises and participates in the training of dental hygiene students and coronal polishing certified dental assistants.
• Works clinical sessions and/or supervises dental hygiene students during clinical sessions as assigned by the Dental Director, and is prepared to begin work during these clinical sessions in a punctual manner.
• Provides comprehensive dental hygiene services in a traditional dental team environment at the direction of the team dentist.
• Ability to deliver dental hygiene care that is considered reasonable, prudent, and within the abilities of a dental hygienist; to include, but not limited to, the following procedures:
  • Radiology:
    Takes high-quality diagnostic images as prescribed by the dentist.
  • Preventive:
    Performs dental prophylaxis, the application of topical fluorides including fluoride varnish, and the application of pit and fissure sealants.
  • Patient
    
    Education:
    
    Instructs patients in all phases of oral hygiene, home care technique, nutritional counseling and tobacco cessation utilizing motivational interviewing techniques.
  • Periodontics:
    Performs periodontal scaling/root planning, conservative periodontal therapy (i.e., placement of controlled-release chemotherapeutic agents), and periodontal maintenance procedures.
  • Adjunctive:
    Administers local anesthesia, nitrous oxide analgesia under supervision of a dentist and all other services allowed within the scope of the AZ Dental Practice Act regarding regulation of dental hygienists.
• Provides ancillary services in support of the Dentist’s practice, to include but not limited to the following procedures:
  • Diagnostic data collection for comprehensive examination appointments.
  • Triage of emergency patients.
  • Local anesthetic injections for the dentists’ patients.
  • Suture removal and post-op care including dressing change.
  • Polishing of amalgam restorations.
  • Taking and recording vitals on patients.
  • Performs and documents medication reconciliation.
  • Tooth Charting and treatment planning for the dental team as needed.
  • Periodontal probing and charting.
• Provides dental hygiene care in non-traditional settings such as medical integrated clinics and outreach events.
• Delivers high-quality dental hygiene care to a diverse patient population according to the following life cycles:
  • Prenatal, Pediatric, Adolescent.
• Educates patients on their unique oral health needs and desires using current best practice methods to encourage behavior change (e.g., Motivational…