Dental Hygienists
Also called: Dental Hygienist, Hygienist, Licensed Dental Hygienist, Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH)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.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 3 of its 16 tasks, and jobs are projected to grow 8.0% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 0.5% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 5.0 hires for every 10 job openings in health care and social assistance, which employs about 98% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.5.0 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $61,160 | $58,800 to $63,410 | 3,170 |
| Alaska | $132,690 | $130,340 to $136,450 | 790 |
| Arizona | $101,010 | $98,660 to $105,990 | 4,530 |
| Arkansas | $86,760 | $82,620 to $93,600 | 1,740 |
| California | $124,930 | $109,730 to $132,120 | 24,500 |
| Colorado | $109,580 | $102,580 to $125,470 | 4,270 |
| Connecticut | $100,690 | $97,630 to $103,380 | 3,240 |
| Delaware | $98,910 | $97,570 to $103,310 | 750 |
| District of Columbia | $137,220 | $104,470 to $138,710 | 320 |
| Florida | $91,980 | $80,190 to $96,060 | 11,980 |
| Georgia | $95,490 | $81,140 to $101,620 | 7,440 |
| Guam | $62,970 | $47,020 to $81,280 | 40 |
| Hawaii | $97,570 | $85,590 to $102,910 | 830 |
| Idaho | $94,650 | $92,820 to $98,410 | 2,060 |
| Illinois | $96,670 | $79,400 to $101,800 | 8,970 |
| Indiana | $92,330 | $81,250 to $99,020 | 5,020 |
| Iowa | $84,010 | $80,950 to $93,880 | 2,440 |
| Kentucky | $78,830 | $67,880 to $91,800 | 2,070 |
| Louisiana | $85,240 | $79,550 to $96,010 | 2,690 |
| Maine | $97,680 | $88,400 to $102,440 | 1,060 |
| Maryland | $107,830 | $103,150 to $120,070 | 3,500 |
| Massachusetts | $100,640 | $98,150 to $106,220 | 6,850 |
| Michigan | $83,790 | $79,670 to $93,310 | 8,640 |
| Minnesota | $103,970 | $99,040 to $116,350 | 4,110 |
| Mississippi | $67,280 | $63,000 to $74,600 | 1,140 |
| Missouri | $92,750 | $83,890 to $98,240 | 3,810 |
| Montana | $98,440 | $94,460 to $100,920 | 860 |
| Nebraska | $92,580 | $85,140 to $96,210 | 1,280 |
| Nevada | $115,290 | $104,330 to $121,730 | 1,510 |
| New Hampshire | $101,250 | $97,820 to $104,260 | 1,360 |
| New Jersey | $107,040 | $101,270 to $115,470 | 7,230 |
| New Mexico | $95,940 | $86,300 to $99,960 | 1,420 |
| New York | $106,130 | $89,960 to $121,740 | 13,660 |
| North Carolina | $97,850 | $84,150 to $100,930 | 6,690 |
| North Dakota | $90,530 | $84,020 to $96,170 | 660 |
| Ohio | $88,990 | $80,980 to $97,210 | 8,630 |
| Oklahoma | $97,580 | $95,980 to $103,210 | 2,860 |
| Oregon | $122,080 | $109,640 to $126,460 | 3,600 |
| Pennsylvania | $80,610 | $75,620 to $99,950 | 7,970 |
| Puerto Rico | $59,320 | $59,320 to $59,320 | not published |
| Rhode Island | $86,910 | $84,030 to $91,160 | 770 |
| South Carolina | $84,340 | $79,400 to $94,830 | 3,160 |
| South Dakota | $92,210 | $83,230 to $96,230 | 630 |
| Tennessee | $84,640 | $80,380 to $94,240 | 4,570 |
| Texas | $99,240 | $85,280 to $107,320 | 16,380 |
| Utah | $91,120 | $81,660 to $95,490 | 3,780 |
| Vermont | $97,470 | $91,210 to $101,230 | 560 |
| Virginia | $102,950 | $97,630 to $119,690 | 3,770 |
| Washington | $131,160 | $122,000 to $134,670 | 6,330 |
| West Virginia | $73,840 | $63,420 to $76,260 | 1,250 |
| Wisconsin | $96,540 | $83,880 to $100,750 | 5,080 |
| Wyoming | $85,130 | $61,360 to $96,890 | 500 |
Nationally: $98,100. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on 3 of its 16 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| AI + software | Record and review patient medical histories. | Not published |
| Not much | Feel and visually examine gums for sores and signs of disease. | Not published |
| Not much | Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease. | Not published |
| Not much | Clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments. | Not published |
| AI + software | Chart conditions of decay and disease for diagnosis and treatment by dentist. | Not published |
| Not much | Attend continuing education courses to maintain or update skills. | Not published |
See all 16 tasks
| Not much | Apply fluorides or other cavity preventing agents to arrest dental decay. | Not published |
| Not much | Maintain dental equipment and sharpen and sterilize dental instruments. | Not published |
| Not much | Expose and develop x-ray film. | Not published |
| Not much | Provide clinical services or health education to improve and maintain the oral health of patients or the general public. | 0.01% |
| Not much | Feel lymph nodes under patient's chin to detect swelling or tenderness that could indicate presence of oral cancer. | Not published |
| AI + software | Maintain patient recall system. | Not published |
| Not much | Remove excess cement from coronal surfaces of teeth. | Not published |
| Not much | Administer local anesthetic agents. | Not published |
| Not much | Make impressions for study casts. | Not published |
| Not much | Conduct dental health clinics for community groups to augment services of dentist. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 1 of the 16 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 16 tasks fall under 12 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
- #4 Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treat injuries, illnesses, or diseases | |||
| Examine people or animals to assess health conditions or physical characteristics | |||
| Operate medical equipment | |||
| Maintain health or medical records | |||
| Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise | |||
| Advise patients or clients on medical issues | |||
| Schedule appointments | |||
| Administer basic health care or medical treatments |
Show all 12 activities
| Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures | |||
| Maintain medical equipment or instruments | |||
| Clean medical equipment or facilities | |||
| Fabricate medical devices |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- An explanation or answer51%
- Advice or a recommendation40%
- A document or report2%
- Teaching material2%
- An email or message1%
How they worked with Claude
4% of these conversations were about work. Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026.
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for dental hygienists specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 4,619 moves out
- 1 Dental Assistants Low +7.4% 11%
- 2 Dental Laboratory Technicians Low -5.9% 5%
- 3 Postsecondary Teachers, All Other Very high +2.0% 4%
- 4 Management Analysts Very high +10.1% 4%
- 5 Medical and Health Services Managers High +24.2% 4%
Where people moved in from
of 5,312 moves in
- 1 Dental Assistants Low +7.4% 27%
- 2 Dental Laboratory Technicians Low -5.9% 6%
- 3 Education Administrators, All Other High +1.6% 3%
- 4 First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers Very high +0.1% 3%
- 5 Retail Salespersons Very high -0.3% 3%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 75% associate's
- 3% bachelor's
- 9% post-bachelor's certificate
- 13% professional doctorate
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 19 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 5% high school
- 9% some college
- 46% associate's
- 34% bachelor's
- 3% master's
- 3% professional degree
Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation · 2,272 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in this occupation
1 program: Dental Hygiene/Hygienist.
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
>99.5% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| a license | 93.4% | 19.1% |
| a certification | 15.4% | 5.8% |
| an educational certificate | not published |
Share of jobs whose employer requires it. BLS doesn't say which credential. How to read this
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeships: DOL's list of apprenticeable occupations doesn't include this one.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
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