Dental Hygienist School

Hi K.! I have been a hygienist for 7 years now and love it! I was a dental assistant for 6 years before going to hygiene school. I can tell you this: once you start in a hygiene program it is full time and very intense. I would NOT recommend working and honestly think it isn't possible to hold a job outside of all the classes and set clinic/rotations/interships. The hard work does pay off though! The going rate for a RDH is $40 per hr in the valley!I love my schedule which only consists of a 3 days work week. Perfect for a mom.
I really don't feel Dental assisting programs PRIOR to dental hygiene is necessary. I feel its a waste of time and money! Look into all the programs for a school that DOESN'T require that. The programs I have heard of out here are at Phoenix College, Northern Arizona University, Rio Salado and Apollo. I did hear that there is a school in Mesa which is starting a program very soon.
Best of luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

My sister went thru dental assisting. She paid off her school bills in a short time. She has been thinking about continuing, but issues came up. I totally think it was worth it. She makes more as a dental assistant than she did as a common worker. Her hours are reasonable and with her current job, she gets bonuses.

I did take a dental assistant course and I don't think the school I went to was good so I do suggest if you do it do it through a community college! I was unable to find a job and actually I kinda felt maybe it wasn't for me. I just wasn't in to it as I did my clinical part. Now Dental Hygiene is a very competitive program at Phoenix College. I was told by all students only 4.0 get in. I considered it myself! Now I am starting a x-ray tech program at Gateway which is what I wanted to do all along but the wait was so long. Now I do know many DA make good money but my experience was kinda bad!

I know 3 people who recently (within the last 1 1/2 years) went thru dental assistant school, and none of them have been able to find jobs. 2 of them graduated as #1 and #3 in their classes, and they still can't work. The other gave up trying to find a DA job and is just working as a receptionist. If you have the time and money to get the classes done now, and you can sit on your certification until the job market turns around, you can do that. But if you are planning on getting a job straight out of school, don't count on it, even if they say that they will help with job placement.