The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center’s mission is to provide high quality, culturally appropriate healthcare to low-income residents of Washington and Yamhill Counties with a special emphasis on seasonal and migrant farmworkers and to others with barriers to receiving healthcare. 

Job Summary: The Dental Hygienist provides preventative and therapeutic oral prophylaxis and educates patients in the control and prevention of oral disease such as caries, and periodontal disease through proper oral hygiene and regular professional care in a variety of settings.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

•  Provide appropriate periodontal services as treatment planned by the EPDH/dentist.

•  Provide routine prophylaxis to adult and pediatric patients (including full mouth scaling, polish, and use of topical fluoride as needed).

•  Differentiate types of periodontal disease, prioritize and sequence treatment properly including scaling, root planning, local anesthesia, and delivery of chemotherapeutic agents as indicated by the periodontal involvement of the patient.

•  Report status of periodontal health and recommend proper interval for reevaluation/recall.

•  Remove overhangs of filling materials and polish amalgams when endorsed.

•  Place soft relines, when endorsed.

•  Perform full mouth periodontal charting that includes probing depths, mobility, furcation's, recession, and mucogingival involvement.

•  Perform and document a complete head and neck exam, including soft tissue pathology.

•  Properly expose, process, and mount oral radiographs.

•  Provide restorative treatment, with dentist supervision, if a restorative endorsement is obtained.

•  Utilize nitrous oxide in treatment of patients, if permit is obtained.

•  Provide chair-side oral hygiene instruction in plaque control, appropriate use of home fluoride and desensitizing agents, and/or dietary and tobacco counseling.

•  Educate caregivers as to oral healthcare needs of accompanied patient.

•  Assist with other clinic responsibilities as needed including office maintenance.

•  Travel as needed within Washington and Yamhill Counties.

•  Participate in the education of dental and dental hygiene students.

•  Provide training to co-workers, in the form of lunch and learns of other structured activities emphasizing OHI and patient education.

•  Maintain, clean, sterilize, and sharpen instruments.

•  Place dental sealants.

•  Deliver anesthetic as requested by treating dentist.

•  Comply with “Universal Precautions” for infection control.

•  Review patient’s medical history and dispense or confirm PAC.

•  Produce documentation necessary and consistent with generally accepted professional dental standards.

•  Maintain 90% compliance in 90% of areas reviewed in annual chart audit.

•  Help in the organization, implementation, and facilitation of current grants (state, local, private) related to dental health services.

•  Inventory supplies related to work.

•  Develop and modify prevention programs.

•  Attend office trainings and meetings along with CDE as required.

•  Work with interpreters and non-English speaking patients.

•  Perform other duties as assigned.

•  Handle protected health information (PHI) in a manner consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)

SBHC-Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

•  Comply with all Oregon Health Authority Sealant Certification requirements.

•  Document patient visit information following care.

•  Comply with all requirements of Virginia Garcia contracted partners.

•  Maintain a 90% sealant retention rate if working in the school sealant program.

•  Educate patients on the health benefits of Virginia Garcia Services in an effort to increase patient participation.

•  Follow up with patients identified at risk of health problems in an effort to get them into treatment.

HIPAA Requirements:

The Dental Hygienist will have access to (PHI) during the course of his/her work activities. The DH will use this information to prepare both patients and medical records for visits with the provider and to keep the flow of work going smoothly in the clinic.  Applying the minimum necessary standard of HIPAA, the designated records sets to which this employee will have access include:  the full medical records, and the scheduling and demographics functions of the practice management system in the view only mode.  

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:

•  Restorative functions endorsement preferred.

•  Good oral and written communication skills.

•  Proficiency in English, both spoken and written language.  Bilingual English and Spanish preferred

•  Knowledge of dental hygiene procedures, techniques, and tools.

•  Knowledge of medications used in conjunction with dental hygiene.

•  Knowledge of medical record keeping and dental charting.

•  Knowledge of OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standards and adherence to safety rules and standards.

•  Skill in cleaning teeth and examining the mouth and teeth for anomalies.

•  Skill in operating x-ray equipment and processing film.

•  Skill in anesthetizing patients.

•  Ability to keep accurate and legible records.

•  Ability to perform dental assistant duties as needed.

•  Ability to work effectively with dentists, co-workers and patients.

•  Proficiency with Microsoft office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook).

•  Ability to be culturally sensitive and to relate to people of varied racial, educational, and socio-economic backgrounds.

•  Ability to work with patients who have limited knowledge of proper oral hygiene.

Education and Experience Required:

•  Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited dental hygiene program.

•  Active license to practice dental hygiene issued by the Oregon Board of Dentistry.

•  Current BLS/CPR/AED certification for healthcare provider.

•  Expanded Practice Permit or must acquire permit within 20 days of hire.

•  One or more years of responsible dental hygiene experience is preferred.

Behavioral Competencies:

Accountability

•  Role model VGMHC’s mission, vision, and shared values

Customer-Focus

•  Listen to the voice of the customer and strive to delight them by exceeding their expectations

Teamwork

•  If someone needs help, help them

Initiative

•  Be innovative, apply fresh ideas, and continuously improve how you do your work

Confidentiality

•  Maintain strict confidentiality and respect the privacy of others

Ethical

•  Demonstrate integrity, honesty, and stewardship in all encounters at work

Respect

•  Demonstrate consideration and appreciation for co-workers and patients

Communication

•  Demonstrate the ability to convey thoughts and ideas as well as understand perspective of others

Physical Requirements:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be required to sit and stand for long periods of time. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and visual acuity to read small print, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. The employee must have manual dexterity to handle small sharp instruments and be able to reach to the top of a five-drawer filing cabinet.  The employee may be required to lift boxes and/or portable equipment that weighs up to 30 pounds.  Occasional lifting of items weighing between 30 and 50 pounds should be performed with the assistance of a co-worker.

Work Environment: 

This position is an OSHA classification category I: tasks that involve exposure to blood, body fluids, and tissue: use of appropriate personal protective equipment is required. Generally, works in a clinic/office environment, which may be stressful at times.  Some work may be performed outside of the office for community dental education.                                            

Immunization:

Staff member must meet immunizations requirements as stated in VGMHC’s immunization policy. 

Job description represent a general outline of the essential and major job duties, functions and qualifications required.  They cannot be all-inclusive and comprehensive due to the dynamic nature of work performed to accomplish VGMHC’s Mission. 

VGMHC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  No person is unlawfully excluded from consideration for employment because of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, veteran status, marital status or physical challenges.  The policy applies not only to recruitment and hiring practices, but also includes affirmative action in the area of placement, promotion, transfer, rate of pay and termination.