Jobs / Healthcare / 29-1292.00
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.
- US jobs
- 222,740
- Median wage
- $98,100 a year
- Job family
- Healthcare
Can agents do the work of dental hygienists?
We read the evidence for the whole job family, Healthcare: Some tasks (no change in 12 months)
Agents complete 20% or more of the tasks (or projects) on a direct benchmark.
Evidence: MedAgentBench, 69.7% of tasks completed.
0% of this occupation's work, by O*NET work activities, is measured by a direct benchmark.
- 20%Treat injuries, illnesses, or diseasesNot measured
- 18%Examine people or animals to assess health conditions or physical characteristicsNot measured
- 15%Maintain health or medical recordsNot measured
- 11%Operate medical equipmentNot measured
- 7%Maintain current knowledge in area of expertiseNot measured
- 7%Advise patients or clients on medical issuesNot measured
- 6%Schedule appointmentsNot measured
- 5%Administer basic health care or medical treatmentsNot measured
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in healthcare, not always this occupation's tasks.
Direct evidence
Work benchmarks mapped primary to this family. They set the step when they report how many tasks agents complete.
Also relevant
These benchmarks cover part of this family's work, or have no result yet. They do not set its step.
Context only
These benchmarks span many occupations, or they test how agents behave. They give context but do not set the step.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- 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.
- Expose and develop x-ray film.
- Attend continuing education courses to maintain or update skills.
- Apply fluorides or other cavity preventing agents to arrest dental decay.
- Maintain dental equipment and sharpen and sterilize dental instruments.
- Maintain patient recall system.
- Feel lymph nodes under patient's chin to detect swelling or tenderness that could indicate presence of oral cancer.
Other job titles for this occupation (8)
Dental Hygienist · Hygienist · Licensed Dental Hygienist · Pediatric Dental Hygienist · Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH) · Dental Nurse · Dental Treatment Coordinator · Oral Hygienist