Registered Dental Hygienist - Grant - Dental Pediatric Embedded

El Rio Community Health Center • Tucson, AZ

5d • $41 - $57 • Hybrid

About The Position

This position provides dental hygiene care and education to patients in various settings, including dental clinics, integrated medical sites, and community outreach. The Registered Dental Hygienist promotes patients' dental health by delivering comprehensive services, supports dentists by performing expanded functions, and collaborates with dentists, hygienists, residents, students, dental assistants, and receptionists. The role also involves developing relationships with medical providers to enhance communication regarding oral health needs and working collaboratively with other health professionals. Additionally, the position involves supervising and training dental hygiene students and coronal polishing certified dental assistants, and working clinical sessions as assigned. The Registered Dental Hygienist will provide comprehensive dental hygiene services in a traditional dental team environment, including radiology, preventive care (prophylaxis, fluoride application, sealants), patient education (oral hygiene, home care, nutrition, tobacco cessation), periodontics (scaling, root planing, maintenance), and adjunctive services like local anesthesia and nitrous oxide analgesia, all within the scope of the AZ Dental Practice Act. Ancillary services include diagnostic data collection, triage of emergency patients, local anesthetic injections, suture removal, polishing restorations, taking vitals, medication reconciliation, and tooth charting/treatment planning. The role also requires providing care in non-traditional settings and to diverse patient populations across different life cycles (prenatal, pediatric, adolescent). The Registered Dental Hygienist will educate patients on unique oral health needs, assist special needs patients, and use the SOAP method for record-keeping. Duties include performing prophylaxis, periodontal maintenance, scaling, root planing, fluoride treatment, sealant application, and interim caries arresting medicament application. The position utilizes tele-dentistry technologies, works with both permanent and portable dental equipment, and is responsible for maintaining dental instruments, operatory sterilization, and hygiene instrumentation. Flexibility and adaptability in work assignments are essential, as is punctuality for assigned clinical sessions. Maintaining a satisfactory performance level, current licensure, and credentialing are required. Staffing evening or Saturday clinics may be necessary. Administrative duties include chart documentation, assisting with medical consultations, referrals, insurance pre-authorizations, and correspondence. The role also involves administering and maintaining the patient re-care system and adhering to OSHA and HIPAA regulations for safety, infection control, sterilization, and patient confidentiality. Maintaining a clean, safe, and hygienic work environment and demonstrating proficiency with Joint Commission Certification (JCC) standards are also required.

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, Preventive, Patient Education, Periodontics, Adjunctive.
• 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 does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), political affiliation, military service, or other non-merit-based factors. It is our intention that all qualified applicants be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions are based on job-related factors.
• El Rio Health requires all AZ employees to have a Level One Fingerprint Clearance card. A.R.S. 36.425.03. New hires and transfers must submit their fingerprint clearance card or fingerprint receipt before their hire date or transfer date. Level One (1) Non-IVP Fingerprint Clearance card must be received within 30 days after the new employee hire date or transfer date.
• 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. Subject to exemptions and accommodations when required by law. (Policy: Adm-016 & Adm-045).
• 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