Registered Dental Hygienist - Center of Oppurtunity - Adult Dental

El Rio Community Health Center•Tucson, AZ

118d

About The Position

Provides dental hygiene care and education to patients in traditional dental clinics, integrated medical sites, and community outreach settings. Delivers comprehensive, quality-oriented and cost-effective care, supports dentists through expanded-function and ancillary services, and collaborates with dental and medical professionals to address patients’ oral health needs. The role serves diverse patients across life stages, including prenatal, pediatric, and adolescent patients, and supports patients with special needs and complex medical conditions. Clinical work includes diagnostic imaging and data collection; preventive care such as prophylaxis, fluoride, sealants, and caries-arresting medicaments; periodontal care; patient education and counseling; and adjunctive services permitted under Arizona law. The hygienist also provides support such as triage, local anesthetic injections for dentists’ patients, suture removal and post-operative care, vital signs, medication reconciliation, charting, and treatment planning. Care may be provided using permanent or portable equipment and emerging tele-dentistry technologies. The position includes training and supervising dental hygiene students and certified dental assistants, maintaining instruments and operatory safety and sterilization, documenting care in the electronic dental record, managing patient re-care, and completing related administrative work. The employee must maintain current licensure and credentials, follow applicable safety, infection-control, confidentiality, and compliance requirements, and may be assigned evening or Saturday clinics. Reliable transportation is required to accommodate operational reassignments during the workday.

Requirements

Registered Dental Hygiene degree from a dental hygiene school accredited by the American Dental Association.
Active, unencumbered Arizona Dental Hygienist license.
Arizona Local Anesthesia Certificate.
Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification for health care providers.
Current and valid Level I fingerprint clearance card in good standing, or application submitted within seven working days after beginning employment; the posting also states that a Level One Non-IVP card must be received within 30 days after hire or transfer.
Reliable transportation capable of meeting operational reassignments during the workday.
Valid driver’s license and compliance with Arizona vehicle insurance requirements if driving during work hours.
Ability to perform the essential functions of the job, with reasonable accommodations as applicable.
Compliance with pre-employment drug testing and applicable post-accident, reasonable-suspicion, return-to-duty, and follow-up drug and alcohol testing.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from an accredited university.
Three years of experience as a dental hygienist.
Bilingual English/Spanish skills, including speaking, reading, and writing.

Responsibilities

Deliver comprehensive dental hygiene services in dental clinics, integrated medical sites, and community outreach settings.
Support dentists’ patient care by providing expanded-function and ancillary dental services within the applicable scope of practice.
Collaborate professionally with dentists, dental team members, medical providers, and other health professionals.
Develop rapport with patients, families, staff, and management, and communicate with medical providers about patients’ oral health needs.
Supervise and participate in training dental hygiene students and coronal polishing certified dental assistants.
Attend and work assigned clinical sessions punctually, including sessions involving students.
Take diagnostic radiographs as prescribed by a dentist and collect diagnostic data for comprehensive examinations.
Provide prophylaxis, topical fluoride, sealants, periodontal scaling and root planing, periodontal maintenance, and interim caries-arresting medicament application.
Educate patients about oral hygiene, home care, nutrition, tobacco cessation, and individual oral health needs using best-practice methods such as motivational interviewing.
Help patients identify and select self-management goals and assist special-needs patients with complex medical conditions.
Provide adjunctive services, including local anesthesia and supervised nitrous oxide analgesia, as permitted by the Arizona Dental Practice Act.
Provide ancillary support such as emergency patient triage, local anesthetic injections for dentists’ patients, suture removal, post-operative care, restoration polishing, vital signs, medication reconciliation, tooth charting, treatment planning, and periodontal probing and charting.
Use tele-dentistry technologies, including intraoral cameras and mobile X-ray units, and work with permanent and portable dental equipment.
Maintain and sharpen instruments; assist with sterilization of operatory surfaces and hygiene instrumentation; and follow water-disinfection protocols.
Adapt to changing work assignments, including use of portable equipment.
Maintain current licensure and credentials and achieve a satisfactory or better annual performance evaluation.
Staff evening or Saturday clinics as directed by the Dental Director and clinic policies.
Complete administrative duties accurately and promptly, including chart documentation, medical consultations, referrals, insurance pre-authorizations, and correspondence.
Administer and maintain the patient re-care system.
Follow OSHA requirements and organizational policies on employee safety, infection control, sterilization, and patient confidentiality, including HIPAA requirements.
Maintain a clean, safe, and hygienic work environment and comply with applicable Joint Commission Certification standards.
Maintain reliable transportation for operational reassignments during the workday; when driving during work hours, maintain a valid driver’s license and comply with Arizona vehicle-insurance requirements.