Dental Hygienist resume example

• Entry level

  Registered dental hygienist licensed in Oregon after passing the NBDHE and the ADEX clinical exam, with local anesthesia and nitrous oxide permits. Treated 140 patients in school clinic, including 22 periodontal cases that needed scaling and root planing. Comfortable with Dentrix and digital sensors. Looking for a full-time hygiene column in a general practice that values careful perio assessment.

• Mid level

  Dental hygienist with seven years in a four-doctor general practice, seeing eight patients a day and caring for a recall list of about 1,600 active patients. Probes and charts at every maintenance visit and completes most SRP cases start to finish, including the anesthesia. Trained two new hygienists on Eaglesoft charting and raised perio treatment acceptance through clearer chairside explanations.

• Senior

  Lead hygienist and hygiene coordinator with fourteen years of clinical practice across general and periodontal offices. Manages a team of five hygienists, sets the recall and perio protocols, and reviews hygiene production with the owner dentist each month. Built a soft-tissue management program that grew periodontal maintenance visits by 30% in two years while keeping on-time starts above 90%.

• Public health

  Dental hygienist in a community health center and school-based sealant program, treating patients on Medicaid and sliding-fee schedules. Screens about 60 children on each school visit, places sealants and fluoride varnish, and refers urgent cases to the clinic dentist. Charts in an integrated medical and dental record.

• Returning to clinic

  RDH returning to clinical practice after four years at home with young children. License kept active through continuing education, local anesthesia permit renewed and BLS current. Finished a refresher course in ultrasonic instrumentation and digital imaging last spring and is ready for a part-time column of six to seven patients a day.

• New graduate

  Spring graduate of a CODA-accredited dental hygiene program with the NBDHE and clinical board passed and Minnesota licensure pending. Brings 130 school-clinic patients and local anesthesia training, and wants a full-time column in a general practice with an active perio program.

• Assistant to hygienist

  Former DANB Certified Dental Assistant with five years chairside, now a licensed hygienist. Already knows Eaglesoft, sterilization and four-handed workflow from the assisting side, and wants a hygiene role where those office routines shorten training.

• Listing "cleanings" without the perio work

  Fix: Separate prophylaxis from scaling and root planing, periodontal maintenance and locally delivered antimicrobials. Mention full-mouth probing at every recall and how many SRP quadrants you complete in a typical week. That tells the doctor you will help diagnose, not just polish.

• Hiding your permits in a long certifications list

  Fix: Local anesthesia, nitrous oxide and any expanded-function or restorative permits decide whether you can staff a column alone. Put them directly under your RDH line with the state that issued them. Near a state border, list each state you are licensed in.

• Ignoring the software the office runs

  Fix: A hygienist who already knows the practice management and imaging systems needs less training. Name Dentrix, Eaglesoft or Open Dental, plus your imaging software. Match the names in the posting exactly.

• Leaving out patient acceptance and recall

  Fix: Hygiene keeps the schedule full. If you kept your recall list booked, scheduled patients before they left the chair, or explained treatment that patients accepted, say so with a monthly or yearly figure. Use your own chair's numbers, not the office total.

Match these against the job posting you are applying to: the free resume checker shows which keywords your resume is missing.

RDH

Put the credential after your name and give the state and status in a license line under your header.

Local anesthesia

Name the permit, the issuing state and the year.

Scaling and root planing

Give a weekly quadrant count in your current role.

Periodontal charting

State that you probe and chart at every adult recall and name the software you chart in.

Dentrix or Eaglesoft

List the exact systems in your skills section.

Digital radiography

Name the image types you take and the sensor or imaging software, such as Dexis.

Patient education

Show one result, such as treatment acceptance or fewer missed recalls.

Pediatric patients

Mention the children in your schedule or the sealant and fluoride programs you ran.

Nitrous oxide

If your state permits it, list the monitoring or administration permit beside local anesthesia.

Infection control

Cite OSHA bloodborne pathogens training and the sterilization tasks you own, like spore testing.

• Charted full-mouth probing for about 30 adult maintenance patients a week and flagged pocket changes for the dentist's exam.
• Performed an average of 12 quadrants of scaling and root planing per week under local anesthesia I administered, with six-week re-evaluations.
• Exposed and reviewed 900 bitewing and full-mouth series in a year on digital sensors, keeping retakes rare through careful sensor placement.
• Raised same-day acceptance of recommended periodontal treatment from 48% to 63% by showing patients intraoral photos next to their own probing numbers.
• Kept a recall list of 1,500 active patients at 85% scheduled by booking every patient's next visit before they left the operatory.
• Placed sealants on 340 children's molars during four school screening days run with the county health department.
• Introduced locally delivered antimicrobial placement for residual pockets, adding about 25 treated sites a month after doctor review.
• Screened roughly 1,800 patients a year for oral cancer and referred 6 suspicious lesions that the dentist sent for biopsy.

• Match the office's patient mix

  Read the posting for clues. A periodontal office wants SRP volume and maintenance visits, a pediatric practice wants sealants and behavior guidance, a community clinic wants screenings and Medicaid patients. Move the matching bullets to the top of each job, put the software they named in your skills, and say whether you can work the days they list. Tailor your resume to this practice

• Open the letter with how you run a column

  Start with one sentence on your daily patient load and the permits you hold. Then connect it to something specific, such as a new perio program or a second location. Close with the days you are available and your start date. Write a dental hygienist cover letter

• Get ready for a working interview

  Many dental offices ask hygiene candidates to work a half day or full day before an offer. You may see real patients in their software, so practice probing and charting quickly in an unfamiliar system. Rehearse answers about a patient who refuses radiographs, a medical history red flag, and what you do when you are running behind. Prepare for hygienist interview questions

• Put your license block above the summary

  A hiring dentist or office manager wants to see at a glance which state licensed you and what that license lets you do. Add one line under your contact details: RDH, state, local anesthesia permit, nitrous permit, BLS. Then check that it reads cleanly. Check how your license block reads