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Boston Career Explorer

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

Dental Hygienists

Administer oral hygiene care to patients. Assess patient oral hygiene problems or needs and maintain health records. Advise patients on oral health maintenance and disease prevention. May provide advanced care such as providing fluoride treatment or administering topical anesthesia.

Also called: Dental Hygienist, Hygienist, Licensed Dental Hygienist, Pediatric Dental Hygienist, Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH)

Compare with my current job (Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$101,990
$49.03/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
5,150
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+1.9%
420 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Associate's degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$95,860$98,480$101,990$106,820$117,570

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Record and review patient medical histories.
  • Feel and visually examine gums for sores and signs of disease.
  • Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
  • Clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments.
  • Provide clinical services or health education to improve and maintain the oral health of patients or the general public.
  • Chart conditions of decay and disease for diagnosis and treatment by dentist.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure32 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 36
  • Language-model AIOE 37
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 22

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for dental hygienists is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools may help with record-keeping, such as organizing medical histories. Hands-on work like examining gums and cleaning teeth, and talking with patients about their oral health, still depends on a person.

Likely to change

  • Recording and reviewing medical histories
  • Organizing patient health records

Still relies on people

  • Examining gums and cleaning teeth by hand
  • Teaching patients about oral health

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

4 programs near Boston (plus 1 graduate)

Related occupations

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