Dental Hygienist Salary: Weekly Earnings & Career Outlook

Dental hygienists have an important job to do.

Dental hygienists have an important job in the field of oral care. They clean soft and hard deposits from patients' teeth, and teach them how to properly care for their oral health. Depending on where they work, dental hygienists may also perform other tasks according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These may include administering anesthetics, working on restorations, creating fillings and removing sutures.

Average Salary

The website mySalary.com, using data collected in early 2011, reports that the median yearly salary for a dental hygienist is approximately $62,000. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2008 that the median salary of dental hygienists was around $68,000 annually. Using those two figures as rough guides, we can calculate that the approximate average weekly salary for this occupation is roughly between $1,200 and $1,300.

Percentiles

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also lists salary based on percentiles. The 10th percentile earns approximately $44,900 annually, which works out to roughly $860 a week. Dental hygienists in the 25th percentile earn around $56,000, or $1,100 a week. The 75th percentile earn about $80,000 a year, which is $1,500, and the 90th percentile make $93,000 a year approximately, or $1,800 weekly.

Industry (Highest Level of Employment)

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also lists the income based on industries that employ dental hygienists; both those who have the highest level of employment and the highest paying industries. They are as follows: Dentist offices (approximately $1,360 a week), employment services (approximately $1,360 a week), physician offices (approximately $1,200 a week), general medical and surgical hospitals (approximately $1,120 a week) and outpatient care centers (approximately $1,320 a week).

Industry (Highest Paying)

Weekly salaries in the highest paying industries are as follows: Office administrative services (approximately $1,320 a week), dentist offices (approximately $1,360 a week), employment services (approximately $1,360 a week), outpatient care centers (approximately $1,320 a week), other health practitioner offices (approximately $1,280 a week).