The Practicon Viewpoint by Ann Page Griffin

DID YOU KNOW? HAVE YOU HEARD?

A VARIETY OF INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PROFESSION

As of 2017-2018, there were 330 accredited dental hygiene education programs in the U.S.

The profession of dental hygiene was ranked number 2 in the Best Healthcare Support category of the 2019 U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of the "100 Best Jobs" in the U.S.

Dentists were ranked number 4; orthodontists, number 5 (tied with nurse anesthetists); oral surgeons and prosthodontists tied for number 9. See the complete list of rankings at the U.S. News & World Report website.

Approximately 32% of practicing dentists in the U.S. are women, up from just over 17% in 2003.

Latest surveys state that almost 50% of dental practices offer no health insurance as a benefit to staff, offering instead a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA). HRAs are tax-free to staff and carry these stipulations: the practice has fewer than 50 full-time employees, the HRA is open to all team members employed for 90 days or longer, all participants must be at least 25 years old and work 25 or more hours per week.

The latest available data on wait times for general dental appointments average 7 days for new patients and just over 5 days wait time for patients of record. How does your practice compare?

2019 marks the 160^th year of the American Dental Association's existence as an advocate for the profession and as a source of information concerning public oral health.

The list of dental specialties increased to 10 in early 2019 when dental anesthesiology was recognized by the National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards. Dental anesthesiology joins nine other specialties: dental public health, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial pathology, oral and maxillofacial radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and prosthodontics.

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