Will AI replace Dental Hygienists?
Estimated risk score: 27 out of 100
Lower replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (8 to 46).
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 18 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 29-1292.00 · Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 4 of its 18 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Expose and develop x-ray film.
- Maintain patient recall system.
- Record and review patient medical histories.
- Attend continuing education courses to maintain or update skills.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 13 of its 18 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Administer local anesthetic agents.
- Apply fluorides or other cavity preventing agents to arrest dental decay.
- Clean calcareous deposits, accretions, and stains from teeth and beneath margins of gums, using dental instruments.
- Examine gums, using probes, to locate periodontal recessed gums and signs of gum disease.
- Feel and visually examine gums for sores and signs of disease.
- Feel lymph nodes under patient's chin to detect swelling or tenderness that could indicate presence of oral cancer.
What the job is
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.
Also called: Hygienist, Licensed Dental Hygienist, Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH), RDH, Oral Hygienist, Pediatric Dental Hygienist.
Closest jobs we score by hand
In the same field (Healthcare Practitioners and Technical). Different jobs, each scored by a person.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate