Advanced nurse practitioner to dental hygienist
An advanced nurse practitioner already meets 50% of what the dental hygienist role asks for. The move turns on 16 required skills not yet in the profile.
60.6/ 100
1 How much of what a dental hygienist is expected to do is already part of an advanced nurse practitioner’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the dental hygienist role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
A dental hygienist role treats 16 of its required skills as things an advanced nurse practitioner already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- accept own accountability
- apply context specific clinical competences
- apply organisational techniques
- contribute to continuity of health care
- deal with emergency care situations
- develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship
What stands in the way is 16 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 18 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A dental hygienist role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an advanced nurse practitioner background worth leading with.
- already held inform policy makers on health-related challenges communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held use e-health and mobile health technologies working with computers
- already held respond to changing situations in health care management skills
- already held deal with emergency care situations assisting and caring
- already held use foreign languages in patient care communication, collaboration and creativity
All 18 carried skills, including the 16 the dental hygienist role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 18 missing skills fall into 5 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn apply antibacterial substance to teeth required
- still to learn perform dental hygiene interventions required
- still to learn remove calculus, plaque and stains required
- still to learn deal with patients' anxiety required
- still to learn comply with legislation related to health care required
- still to learn manage infection control in the facility required
- still to learn promote inclusion required
- still to learn counsel on nutrition and its impact on oral health required
- still to learn educate on oral healthcare and disease prevention required
- still to learn follow dentists' instructions required
- still to learn promote health and safety policies in health services required
- still to learn communicate in healthcare required
- still to learn evaluate clinical outcomes of dental hygiene interventions required
- still to learn perform dental charting required
- optional, not held keep records for dental prostheses optional
- still to learn perform dental radiographs required
- optional, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation optional
- still to learn polish dental restorations required
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries a dental hygienist role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 apply antibacterial substance to teeth practise this
- 02 evaluate clinical outcomes of dental hygiene interventions practise this
- 03 perform dental hygiene interventions practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 18 skills that carry over
- already held accept own accountability skill
- already held apply context specific clinical competences skill
- already held apply organisational techniques skill
- already held contribute to continuity of health care skill
- already held deal with emergency care situations skill
- already held develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship skill
- already held empathise with the healthcare user skill
- already held ensure safety of healthcare users skill
- already held follow clinical guidelines skill
- already held interact with healthcare users skill
- already held listen actively skill
- already held provide health education skill
- already held respond to changing situations in health care skill
- already held use e-health and mobile health technologies skill
- already held work in a multicultural environment in health care skill
- already held work in multidisciplinary health teams skill
- already held inform policy makers on health-related challenges skill
- already held use foreign languages in patient care skill
2 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held keep records for dental prostheses optional
- optional, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation optional
75 held skills the dental hygienist role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role administer immunotherapy skill
- not needed by the target role advise on healthcare users' informed consent skill
- not needed by the target role advise on healthy lifestyles skill
- not needed by the target role advise patients on infectious diseases when travelling skill
- not needed by the target role analyse quality of nurse care skill
- not needed by the target role apply nursing care in long-term care skill
- not needed by the target role apply person-centred care skill
- not needed by the target role assess physical conditions of clients skill
- not needed by the target role assist in kidney transplant skill
- not needed by the target role carry out invasive cardiovascular procedures skill
- not needed by the target role carry out nurse-led discharge skill
- not needed by the target role clinical decision-making at advanced practice skill
- not needed by the target role coach individuals in specialised nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role communicate in specialised nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role communicate with nursing staff skill
- not needed by the target role comply with quality standards related to healthcare practice skill
- not needed by the target role conduct preoperative investigations skill
- not needed by the target role conduct research in advanced nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role contribute to high level health strategic decisions skill
- not needed by the target role contribute to the advancements in specialised nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role coordinate care skill
- not needed by the target role delegate emergency care skill
- not needed by the target role develop plans related to the transfer of care skill
- not needed by the target role diagnose advanced nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role diagnose nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role evaluate nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role evaluation in specialised nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role evidence-based nursing care knowledge
- not needed by the target role have computer literacy skill
- not needed by the target role implement fundamentals of nursing skill
- not needed by the target role implement nursing care skill
- not needed by the target role implement policy in healthcare practices skill
- not needed by the target role implement scientific decision making in healthcare skill
- not needed by the target role innovation in nursing knowledge
- not needed by the target role lead healthcare services changes skill
- not needed by the target role lead research activities in nursing skill
- not needed by the target role leadership in nursing knowledge
- not needed by the target role make clinical decisions skill
- not needed by the target role manage adverse reactions to drugs skill
- not needed by the target role manage communicable disease skill
35 further entries not listed here
Common questions about this move
Can an advanced nurse practitioner become a dental hygienist?
Yes, and it is a substantial move. An advanced nurse practitioner already covers 50% of what a dental hygienist is expected to do: 18 skills carry over, 16 of which the dental hygienist role treats as required.
What skills does an advanced nurse practitioner need to become a dental hygienist?
16 required skills are missing, plus 2 optional ones. They fall into 5 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by assisting and caring. The single most important is apply antibacterial substance to teeth.
How hard is the move from advanced nurse practitioner to dental hygienist?
Its learning distance is 60.6 out of 100, which is the substantial band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.