Intrested in dental hygiene school need answers...

[Mommyof4]

Hello, I'm a mom of 4 never attended college, really wanting to get an education, researched and really interested in dental hygiene, my questions are.. 1- is dental hygiene really hard? Especially for a mom and wife? How many hours of dedicated studying a week will i need? 2- how much will it roughly cost to get my associates degree at a community college (i reside in Texas) 3-will i have the option of doing part time studying? I'm new to this but i am really motivated!Any other advice i need before i start will be appreciated

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[irishmom]

I am a hygienist that is transistioning to going to dental school. I can answer your questions.
1. Yes hygienie school is hard. You have many difficult classes, and for each of those we lost about 2 students because they did not get the required C in the class to pass.
2. As soon as you start clinicals, which for me was the first summer after I started, you are in class from 8 to 5 Monday thru Friday. I would then study for about 2 hours each night after. You pretty much cannot work unless it is a weekend job.'
3. Other advice: Contrary to what is being said by various news agencies, Dental Hygiene is NOT one of the growing job fields. I am a member of various hygiene groups and one thing that is talked about over and over is the inability to find jobs. Many hygienists work 2 to 3 jobs just to fill their week. Many cannot even do that. There aren't many jobs that come with any sort of benefits, unless you work corporate, which I have done in the past, and I hated it.

Oh, and I was a mom of 2 (ages 2 and 6) when I started hygiene school. My husband did a lot of the heavy lifting at home to ensure I was able to do what was needed to get through school.

My advice to anyone wanting to become a hygienist is to become a nurse instead.

Good luck.

 

[StumpMT]

My sister graduated hygiene school in 2006 then went to the navy to do hygiene in 2008 because she just couldn't find a true full-time job. she just got out last year and in that 6 years she did TONS of hygiene and got her bachelor's in hygiene. Now she'll be getting her masters soon.

 

[mimachu]

If you never attended college, chances are it will take you ~4 years to complete the A.A.S. in dental hygiene. DH programs usually will not accept you unless you have completed a certain amount of pre-reqs. Anyway, there were plenty of people in my class that had kids and had jobs that they had to juggle, but they made it work. You have to be very creative. With getting a job, I believe it really depends on your location. I guess I was really lucky because I never had any trouble finding a job and I actually had 2 offices that were fighting over me so that I would choose their office to work at full time. Like irishmom mentioned, look into nursing programs too. You might have better luck finding a job as a nurse and plus with nursing you might not feel like you're stuck doing the same thing over and over again like hygiene, which gets old and boring very fast.

 

[Mommyof4]

If you never attended college, chances are it will take you ~4 years to complete the A.A.S. in dental hygiene. DH programs usually will not accept you unless you have completed a certain amount of pre-reqs. Anyway, there were plenty of people in my class that had kids and had jobs that they had to juggle, but they made it work. You have to be very creative. With getting a job, I believe it really depends on your location. I guess I was really lucky because I never had any trouble finding a job and I actually had 2 offices that were fighting over me so that I would choose their office to work at full time. Like irishmom mentioned, look into nursing programs too. You might have better luck finding a job as a nurse and plus with nursing you might not feel like you're stuck doing the same thing over and over again like hygiene, which gets old and boring very fast.

Thanks for your feedback, that reliefs me a bit, I don't expect it to be easy at all, my kids are dependent my youngest is 7 years, i thought about nursing but clinicals are 12 hr shifts, that's what made me look into dh hours of clinicals and the job hours are not as long. I'm still raising a family and shorter hours outside the home means more time for my kids

 

[irishmom]

I never had any trouble finding a job

I did not have trouble finding a job right out of school, and also had 3 different job offers. However, that was 10 years ago, and in most (not all) locations that is no longer the case. Read up on what the job outlook is in your area. Most schools will gloss over this. If there are a lot of hygiene schools in your area (in Ohio where I am there are I think 14 different schools, which equals oversaturaion), it will be more difficult to get a job. If you are able to relocate to an underserved area that would be best.

Good luck.

 

[Mommyof4]

I did not have trouble finding a job right out of school, and also had 3 different job offers. However, that was 10 years ago, and in most (not all) locations that is no longer the case. Read up on what the job outlook is in your area. Most schools will gloss over this. If there are a lot of hygiene schools in your area (in Ohio where I am there are I think 14 different schools, which equals oversaturaion), it will be more difficult to get a job. If you are able to relocate to an underserved area that would be best.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info, i looked it up in my area the outlook for dh is better than other states, I'll see what I'll end up doing.

 

[irishmom]

My sister is a nurse, and while she does do 12 hour shifts, she does 3 on 3 off so it isn't as bad as it seems. She works 7am to 7pm in the ICU and every day is different. Whih is also not the case in hygiene. She has also never had a problem finding a job.

 

[irishmom]

Thanks for the info, i looked it up in my area the outlook for dh is better than other states, I'll see what I'll end up doing.

What state are you in?

 

[Mommyof4]

What staate are you in?

Texas dfw area

 

[irishmom]

Here is a response from a question I posted about your situation in a hygiene group I'm a member of:

Linda Belausits good in HI, VT, NV and thats because each of those states have ONE hygiene school. here is something to consider before you invest money and time in hygiene school: Per the department of labor statistics, there are 196,000 working dentists and 193,000 working hygienists. Remember, many of the dentists dont hire hygienists (endodontists, orthodontists, oral surgeons). If you only want to work PT you can probably find 1-3 days, not FT AND benefits are rare.

Linda is the operator of Dentaljobs.net. She is upto date on where the jobs are since she operates a job listing site.

 

[Mommyof4]

Here is a response from a question I posted about your situation in a hygiene group I'm a member of:

Linda Belausits good in HI, VT, NV and thats because each of those states have ONE hygiene school. here is something to consider before you invest money and time in hygiene school: Per the department of labor statistics, there are 196,000 working dentists and 193,000 working hygienists. Remember, many of the dentists dont hire hygienists (endodontists, orthodontists, oral surgeons). If you only want to work PT you can probably find 1-3 days, not FT AND benefits are rare.

Linda is the operator of Dentaljobs.net. She is upto date on where the jobs are since she operates a job listing site.

Where the clinicals one semester? How long will clinicals be?

 

[irishmom]

Clinicals are for a full year. From June until the Next May. During first year I still didn't work so I could study. We were in class 4 days a week then.

 

[Digitalangel]

the dental office i worked at, the assistants and hygienists said they wish they went nursing instead. i think the pay is higher and you can find a job pretty much anywhere!