Monday, June 5, 2000

Male dental hygienists are still scarce as hen´s teeth

By AUDREY PARENTE
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Frontline fighters in the battle against plaque dental hygienists are mostly women, who meticulously chisel and floss away that sticky whitish film of dead bacteria that a patient ignores at the peril of losing those pearly whites.

The only local male in the profession is John Devaney, of Ormond Beach.

He may be the only man among 350 licensed dental hygienists in Volusia County, says Janice Siegel, outgoing president of the Volusia County Dental Hygienists´ Association, a branch of the American Dental Hygienists´ Association.

Nationally, 98.3 percent of practicing dental hygienists were female in 1992, according to a study available from the American Dental Hygienists´ Association. In that study, nearly one-third of the licensed hygienists had bachelor´s or master´s degrees.

Devaney earned his dental hygienist degree in 1999 and works for Dr. Fred Costello in Ormond Beach. But Devaney says he has known about dentistry since his childhood.

"My dad was a dentist where I am originally from, in Massachusetts. I went to college at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where I got a bachelor´s degree in biology, thinking about going into dentistry," Devaney says.

At one time, most dentists were male, Devaney says, but now 50 percent are women, so it´s surprising to him that there are not more males in the hygienist field.

Instead of becoming a dentist, he married and followed his wife to Flagler Beach where his wife´s parents lived.

In 1996, he returned to school to become a dental hygienist.

"The school said they average one male a year, and I was the only one when I was there," he says.

Recommending the profession, Devaney says, "It´s a great job, with tremendous hours and good pay and benefits."

Hygienists are extremely proud of their role in dental health, and Devaney is hoping someday to have the choice of going into business for himself instead of being employed by dentists.

Outgoing president, Siegel, says she decided to become a hygienist because of a positive experience she had with one when she was nine years old.

"I was hit in the mouth with a baseball bat and my front tooth was knocked off even with the gums. The way I was handled as a terrified youngster left me with fond memories and instilled me with the desire to get into the field," Siegel says.

She began her education at East Carolina University in North Carolina, but moved to Key Largo, going to work as a dental assistant before entering the dental hygiene program at St. Petersburg Junior College. She continued schooling at Tallahassee Community College, where she earned her degree.

She works for Dr. Michael Panczyszyn of Port Orange and is the editor of the Volusia County Dental Hygienists´ Association newsletter.

"The critical issue is to keep our standards to a college level in an accredited program," Siegel says.

The association´s lobby is promoting the creation of its own board to solidify standards, she adds.

Currently licensed hygienists are judged by the Board of Dentistry, on which there are two hygienist members.

Hygienists are quick to distinguish their skills from those of dental assistants.

Sharon Jones of New Smyrna Beach, the association´s incoming president, says the profession is often misunderstood.

Hygienists must have a degree which requires at least three years of college. Hygienists require a license to practice and must complete continuing education requirements to maintain their license.

And a licensed hygienist is employed by a dentist to treat patients, not to work as a chair-side assistant to the employer.

Jones says chair-side assisting and performing the duties of a hygienist are vastly different.

The (hygienist) practitioner performs maintenance procedures and needs to be fully aware of whole body health, which our education gives us. Our organization maintains standards of education and patient care," she says.

While some chair-side assistants learn expanded duties, they cannot legally perform the same level of patient care as a licensed professional hygienist, Jones adds.

For this reason, the national Dental Hygienists´ Association, with a national membership of more than 100,000 and established in 1923, has a strong mission in making the public better aware of the profession.

Local membership totals 185, more than half of Volusia County´s licensed hygienists.

Jones, who will serve as the local association president through 2001, says local pay ranges from $18 to $26.

However, Volusia county is ranked third lowest in compensation in the state for hygienists, according to the Florida Dental Hygienist Association, says Jones.

"DBCC is turning them out, and two-thirds of the class will be practicing in the Orlando area because there is not as much work here and pay is higher elsewhere," she says.

She compares being an hygienist today to how nursing was many years ago and predicts changes.

"Nursing was once dominated by females, but now we have many male nurses," she says. "We will be getting more male hygienists."

Jones earned an internship in high school. The Columbus, Ohio, native was 15 when she selected a vocational education program giving her experience as an assistant to a dentist

"The same dentist hired me as his part-time assistant while I was in school," she says. Following her graduation in 1965, she began to take on expanded duties around the office.

In 1969 she took a national board exam that qualified her to teach dental assisting in a vocational program, a job she held for 11 years.

Moving to Florida, she entered the dental hygiene school at Daytona Beach Community College and earned her license as a hygienist. She works for Causeway Dental Associates in New Smyrna Beach.

The organization meets monthly and offers seminars, speakers, and continuing education requirements. Non-members may take the education seminars at higher cost.

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