Occupational therapy assistant to dental hygienist
An occupational therapy assistant already meets 27% of what the dental hygienist role asks for. The move turns on 23 required skills not yet in the profile.
78.4/ 100
1 How much of what a dental hygienist is expected to do is already part of an occupational therapy assistant’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 9 of its required skills as things an occupational therapy assistant already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- communicate in healthcare
- deal with emergency care situations
- empathise with the healthcare user
- ensure safety of healthcare users
- follow clinical guidelines
- interact with healthcare users
What stands in the way is 23 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 9 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 occupational therapy assistant background worth leading with.
- already held deal with emergency care situations assisting and caring
- already held interact with healthcare users communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held provide health education communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held empathise with the healthcare user assisting and caring
- already held follow clinical guidelines assisting and caring
- already held communicate in healthcare communication, collaboration and creativity
All 9 carried skills, including the 9 the dental hygienist role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 27 missing skills fall into 7 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 accept own accountability required
- still to learn apply context specific clinical competences 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 develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship required
- still to learn work in a multicultural environment in health care required
- optional, not held inform policy makers on health-related challenges optional
- optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
- 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 contribute to continuity of health care 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 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 apply organisational techniques required
- still to learn respond to changing situations in health care required
- still to learn perform dental radiographs required
- optional, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation optional
- still to learn polish dental restorations required
1 further area in the appendix
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 9 skills that carry over
- already held communicate in healthcare skill
- already held deal with emergency care situations 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 work in multidisciplinary health teams skill
The 1 learning area not shown above
- still to learn use e-health and mobile health technologies required
4 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held keep records for dental prostheses optional
- optional, not held inform policy makers on health-related challenges optional
- optional, not held use foreign languages in patient care optional
- optional, not held use technical equipment for sterilisation optional
37 held skills the dental hygienist role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role advise healthcare users on occupational health skill
- not needed by the target role apply techniques of occupational therapy skill
- not needed by the target role assist healthcare users achieve autonomy skill
- not needed by the target role assist in performing physical exercises skill
- not needed by the target role community-based rehabilitation knowledge
- not needed by the target role create individual treatment programmes skill
- not needed by the target role develop a rehabilitation programme skill
- not needed by the target role develop therapeutic relationships skill
- not needed by the target role ergonomics knowledge
- not needed by the target role exercise patience skill
- not needed by the target role first aid knowledge
- not needed by the target role general medicine knowledge
- not needed by the target role geriatrics knowledge
- not needed by the target role health care legislation knowledge
- not needed by the target role health care occupation-specific ethics knowledge
- not needed by the target role human physiology knowledge
- not needed by the target role hygiene in a health care setting knowledge
- not needed by the target role instruct on the use of special equipment for daily activities skill
- not needed by the target role kinesiology knowledge
- not needed by the target role mechanotherapy knowledge
- not needed by the target role monitor patients' progress related to treatment skill
- not needed by the target role movement techniques knowledge
- not needed by the target role neurology knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational health knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational physiology knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational science knowledge
- not needed by the target role occupational therapy theories knowledge
- not needed by the target role orthopaedics knowledge
- not needed by the target role perform occupation analyses skill
- not needed by the target role perform patient activity analyses skill
- not needed by the target role physical medicine knowledge
- not needed by the target role provide stroke rehabilitation services skill
- not needed by the target role record healthcare users' progress related to treatment skill
- not needed by the target role rehabilitation knowledge
- not needed by the target role remediate healthcare user's occupational performance skill
- not needed by the target role supervision of persons knowledge
- not needed by the target role vocational rehabilitation knowledge
Other moves recorded from occupational therapy assistant
Common questions about this move
Can an occupational therapy assistant become a dental hygienist?
Yes, and it is a career change move. An occupational therapy assistant already covers 27% of what a dental hygienist is expected to do: 9 skills carry over, 9 of which the dental hygienist role treats as required.
What skills does an occupational therapy assistant need to become a dental hygienist?
23 required skills are missing, plus 4 optional ones. They fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is apply antibacterial substance to teeth.
How hard is the move from occupational therapy assistant to dental hygienist?
Its learning distance is 78.4 out of 100, which is the career change 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.