Registered Dental Hygienist - Cherrybell - Dental Pediatric Embedded

El Rio Health • Tucson, AZ

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

This position provides comprehensive dental hygiene care and education to patients in various settings, including dental clinics, integrated medical sites, and community outreach events. The Registered Dental Hygienist promotes patient dental health by delivering services, supporting dentists with expanded functions, and collaborating with medical providers to address oral health needs. The role involves training dental hygiene students and certified dental assistants, working clinical sessions, and performing a range of dental hygiene procedures. Additionally, the position requires maintaining dental operations, adhering to safety and confidentiality regulations, and performing administrative duties. The role emphasizes flexibility, adaptability, and a commitment to quality patient care across different life cycles and patient needs, including those with complex medical conditions and special needs.

Requirements

• Registered Dental Hygiene (RDH) Degree from a dental hygiene school accredited by the American Dental Association (A.D.A.)
• Active and unencumbered Dental Hygienist License from the Arizona State Board of Dental Examiners.
• Arizona Local Anesthesia Certificate.
• Current certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) for health care providers.
• Level I fingerprint clearance card: current valid and in good standing or have applied for it within seven working days after beginning employment.
• Reliable transportation that can meet any operational reassignments of the organization during the workday.
• If an employee is driving during work hours, the employee is required to possess a valid driver’s license and must comply with Arizona vehicle insurance requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health from an accredited university.
• Three (3) years’ experience as a Dental Hygienist.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) with the ability to speak, read and write in both languages.

Responsibilities

• Promotes the patients’ dental health by delivering comprehensive dental hygiene services in a quality-oriented and cost effective manner.
• Supports the capacity of the dentists to deliver patient care by acting as a dental auxiliary in providing expanded function services to the patients.
• Supports the dentist and dental team members and works in a professional, cooperative and congenial manner with the entire dental staff (i.e., dentist, hygienists, residents, students, dental assistants, and dental receptionists).
• Develops strong working relationships with medical providers that enhance communication regarding the oral health needs of their patients.
• Collaborates with a broad spectrum of health professionals while working across traditional boundaries to achieve success.
• Develops rapport with patients, family, staff members and management.
• Supervises and participates in the training of dental hygiene students and coronal polishing certified dental assistants.
• Works clinical sessions and/or supervises dental hygiene students during clinical sessions as assigned by the Dental Director, and is prepared to begin work during these clinical sessions in a punctual manner.
• Provides comprehensive dental hygiene services in a traditional dental team environment at the direction of the team dentist.
• Ability to deliver dental hygiene care which is considered reasonable, prudent, and within the abilities of a dental hygienist; to include, but not limited to, the following procedures: Radiology: Takes high quality, diagnostic images as prescribed by the dentist. Preventive: Performs dental prophylaxis, the application of topical fluorides including fluoride varnish, and the application of pit and fissure sealants. Patient Education: Instructs patients in all phases of oral hygiene, home care technique, nutritional counseling and tobacco cessation utilizing motivational interviewing techniques. Periodontics: Performs periodontal scaling/root planning, conservative periodontal therapy (i.e., placement of controlled-release chemotherapeutic agents), and periodontal maintenance procedures. Adjunctive: Administers local anesthesia, nitrous oxide analgesia under supervision of a dentist and all other services allowed within the scope of the AZ Dental Practice Act regarding regulation of dental hygienists.
• Provides ancillary services in support of the Dentist’s practice, to include but not limited to the following procedures: Diagnostic data collection for comprehensive examination appointments. Triage of emergency patients. Local anesthetic injections for the dentists’ patients. Suture removal and post-op care including dressing change. Polishing of amalgam restorations. Taking and recording vitals on patients Performs and documents medication reconciliation. Tooth Charting and treatment planning for the dental team as needed. Periodontal probing and charting
• Provides dental hygiene care in non-traditional settings such as medical integrated clinics and outreach events.
• Delivers high quality dental hygiene care to a diverse patient population according to the following five life cycles: Prenatal, Pediatric, Adolescent, Educates patients on their unique oral health needs and desires using current best practice methods to encourage behavior change (e.g. Motivational Interviewing). This may include: Nutritional counseling for control of dental disease, Tobacco counseling for the control and prevention of oral disease Helps the patient to identify and select self-management goals. Assists Special Needs patients with complex medical conditions.
• Employs the SOAP method of recording patient treatment in the electronic dental record.
• Performs all hygiene clinical procedures to include prophylaxis for adults and children, periodontal maintenance, periodontal scaling, root planing, topical fluoride treatment, placing sealants and the use of interim caries arresting medicament application (i.e. Silver Diamine Fluoride).
• Utilizes emerging tele-dentistry technologies such as intra oral cameras and mobile x-ray units.
• Performs dental hygiene duties using both permanent and portable dental equipment.
• Maintains dental operations by maintaining/sharpening the dental hygiene instruments, facilitating and assisting in the sterilization of the working surfaces of the dental operatory, facilitating water disinfection protocols as well as the sterilizing and maintenance of the hygiene instrumentation (i.e., hand pieces, hand instruments, etc.)
• Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability in work assignments, including the use of portable equipment.
• Attends clinical sessions as assigned by the Dental Director/Dentist Team Leader, and is prepared to begin work during these clinical sessions in a punctual manner.
• Maintains a satisfactory level or better on the annual performance evaluation and keeps licensure and credentialing current and updated.
• Staff evening or Saturday clinics as determined by current clinic policies at the direction of the Dental Director.
• Performs administrative duties associated with the practice of dental hygiene with accuracy and timeliness including: chart documentation assisting in the completion of medical consultations referrals insurance pre-authorizations correspondence
• Administers and maintains the patient re-care system.
• Follows OSHA regulations/guidelines and established policies and procedures regarding employee safety, infection control and sterilization.
• Follows HIPPA regulations/guidelines and established policies and procedures regarding patient confidentiality.
• Maintains a clean, safe, and hygienic work environment in compliance with all Policies and Procedures including but not limited to work areas, workstations, examination rooms, hand washing, infection prevention and control etc. for this position.
• Demonstrates an understanding of and proficiency with the application of all compliance and reporting requirements respective to Joint Commission Certification (JCC) standards.

Benefits

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities; known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and for sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, and practices to perform the essential functions of the job.
• El Rio Health requires all AZ employees to have a Level One Fingerprint Clearance card.
• All employees are strongly recommended to obtain and maintain vaccination status (i.e., as recommended by CDC and/or other public health agencies) to include an Influenza vaccination.
• All employees are required to undergo drug testing prior to employment and will be subject to post-accident, reasonable suspicion, return to duty and follow up drug and alcohol testing in compliance with Federal and State regulations for alcohol and controlled substance testing.
• Employees in positions holding responsibility for the safety and welfare of others will also be classified as safety sensitive.
• El Rio Health is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and abides by all applicable federal Drug-Free Workplace standards.
• El Rio Health is an equal opportunity employer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree