Dental Hygienist

Department of Veterans Affairs • Jacksonville, FL

79d • Remote

About The Position

This Dental Hygienist position is located at the Tallahassee Outpatient Clinic. The dental hygienist is an integral member of the dental treatment team and performs a wide variety of interventions that contribute to the overall oral health of Veterans. The work requires professional knowledge in the field of dental hygiene and the biomedical sciences that relate to dentistry. The Dental Hygienist provides services to the Veteran population enrolled in the North Florida/South Georgia Veteran Health System.

Responsibilities

• Proficiently provides procedures commonly recognized by the dental profession for safe performance by a licensed dental hygienist including the removal of all hard and soft deposits and stains from the human teeth to the depth of the gingival sulcus.
• Polishing natural and restored surfaces of teeth.
• Performing clinical examination of teeth and surrounding tissues for diagnosis by the dentist.
• Performing other such procedures as may be delegated by the dentist consistent with the Florida State Dental Practice Act.
• Complies with all Patient Safety processes: Infection control, patient identification, time-out, iMed (informed) consent, medication reconciliation, and hand-off communication.
• Follows standard operating procedures for all reusable medical equipment (RME), instruments, materials, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in use in the dental clinical areas.
• Maintains operatory standardization by ensuring all products, materials and instruments are unexpired in operatory and in storage locations throughout the clinic.
• Prepares the operatory with all needed equipment, materials and supplies for planned dental procedure(s) prior to seating the patient and cleans operatory after the patient is dismissed for timely turnover.
• Keeps patients informed of clinic delays by directly communicating with patients when treatment will not commence within 10-minutes of the patient's scheduled appointment time.
• Performs and records patient's blood pressure, pulse, and medical history; recognizes patient signs of physical distress and monitors patients' condition during treatment.
• Captures and saves diagnostic quality digital radiographs of the mouth, gums, jaws, and/or teeth --- both intraoral and extraoral --- of good diagnostic quality in traditional or digital formats within the desired time frame, for same day dental exams.
• Provides dental prophylaxis of natural teeth (including removing cement from teeth and restorations) and dental prostheses.
• Provides gross debridement, scaling and root planning, and subgingival curettage.
• Administers local anesthetic agents (in accordance with Florida and applicable licensure/training requirements and under direct supervision of dentist).
• Applies desensitizing agents, fluoride (foam, gel or varnish), anti-inflammatory agents and topical anesthesia to specified areas of the oral cavity.
• Keeps up to date and complies with all current Policies, Handbooks and Directives, Memoranda and Standard Operating Procedures, Workplace duties and Competencies within the VHA, applicable Accreditation and Regulatory Agencies, Medical Center, and Dental Service.
• Effectively participates in staff meetings and service conference calls; complies with employee education requirements.
• Collaborates with dentists, dental assistants, dental hygienists, dental lab techs, the Dental Administrative Officer, and Medical Support Assistants (MSAs) in a manner that enhances coordination of patient care.
• Demonstrates a working knowledge of dental eligibility and the scope of care that may be provided based on the patient's dental classification.
• Properly fills out 'Return to Clinic' orders for patient follow-up care.
• Assists in filling gaps in the schedule due to late cancellations and failed appointments via reports, phone calls, and secure message.
• Retrieves data and charts clinical findings, completed care and treatment plans in the Dental Record Manager Plus (DRM+) component of the Computerized Patient medical Record System (CPRS), showing expertise in the use of the functionalities applicable to the medical record documentation and management contained in both CPRS and DRM+.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Industry: Administration of Human Resource Programs
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees