RDH vs RN dilemma

I'm currently in dental hygiene school. Just started my second semester 2 wks ago. I am very worried about not being able to find work when I graduate(I live in south FL) IF i do find one Ill be concerned about not getting benefits/full time work or job security. Ive heard of many hygienist changing careers due to boredom/injuries/dead-end job etc. I was considering nursing before switching to this. I changed my mind at the last minute because I already got accepted before I could apply to RN school. I am already aware of all the pros and cons with both RDH and RN. I am now considering applying for nursing school find out if i get accepted, and then leaving hygiene all together. OR... finishing hygiene school and doing nursing after.. I'm 22 with no kids, but don't want to be in school forever and I just want to work and not regret anything... Nursing would open alot more doors.

Forgot to add.. any comments or opinions would be really appreciated!!!! Thankyu!!

michelle in West Palm Beach, Florida said: Forgot to add.. any comments or opinions would be really appreciated!!!! Thankyu!!

I would leave the hygiene program ASAP. Try to get partial tuition back from this semester if possible. Go to work till getting into nursing !

Thanx the only thing is I used a loan to pay for school so if I drop out now I'm not sure if I would have to pay it back right away or not. But I agree on doing nursing too. I think that would the best thing..

I've been an RDH for 12 years and am now returning to school at 36 years old to be an RN because I can't find a job in MI. Most offices want younger grads now since they can pay them less. I am frustrated that I have to compete with new grads having no experience for $10 less than I am used to making. The dentists here love it that there are too many hygienists now and not enough jobs. They have the upperhand. The hygiene schools are lying to everyone in MI saying there are tons of jobs out there so they can make money. Do your research before investing in hygiene right now is all I can say. Read the current issue of RDH Magazine's Salary Survey to see how dissatisfied and frustrated America's dental hygienists are right now with the future of dental hygiene. The economy has caused dentists' schedules to be slow, so they are now doing the hygiene instead of the hygienists. They are cutting the hygienists' hours, letting them go, or paying them less to compensate for our economy. There is no RDH union, so dentists can treat us however they choose and there isn't much we can do about it. There is low membership in the MDHA and ADHA. Hygienists feel helpless. The ones lucky enough to have a job aren't leaving because they know they may not find another one. THere has been a major change just in the last 12 years since I graduated. I used to have my pick of jobs to choose from and be offered top salary. Now, I have to write essays in response to job ads, do phone interviews, interview, do nonpaid working interviews, and compete with 50-80 other RDHs who are new grads and will accept jobs for way less. In my opinion, RDHs are not respected by the majority of dentists. A lot of male dentists refer to their hygienists as "their girls" still. I overheard my last employer refer to me as "his stupid hygienist" when he was explaining to the panoramic xray machine company about how "his stupid hygienist may have messed with the settings." This was on my second day of work.

Girlpower:
Wow, what an absolute jerk that fellow is! I'm so sorry that happened. Shameful, absolutely shameful. And how are you supposed to work with that person, knowing what he said? Ya gotta wonder how they pick candidates for dental school, eh?
For the present state of hygiene, I read that dentists want to get our wages down close to that of an assistant. Whether there is any basis to that needs to be investigated, but what's happening in hygiene nowadays would suggest that to be true. Wow, what a lack of respect for our work, studies, and achievements over the last few decades. Did they EVER want highly-competent individuals working for them? Why did we even bother to learn restorative, LA, as well as all of the OTHER courses (dental morphology, oral pathology, ortho, perio, anatomy, physiology, embryology, etc. etc. etc.). Talk about casting pearls before swine!
If this is the present state of hygiene, perhaps hygienists should work to rule, that is, do hygiene only as much as an assistant is permitted to do, (if that's how they want to pay us) and refer the patient out to the periodontist for "deep scaling". It would make our job a lot easier. I wonder how that would fly. It would affect revenue, for sure.
Just a thought...
Good luck with your nursing studies. You've made a terrific decision and you'll get a job with benefits. Go girl!

You should become a dental assistant (takes less time) or become an LPN or RN but NOT a dental hygienist because you won't be able to find enough work to support yourself and your kids as a hygienist! Right now we are in a recession. During a recession people lose their jobs and dental insurance and STOP going to a dental office for cleanings. Therefore too many hygienists are out of work.
Oh and dentist do not like to hire new grads! I couldn't find even a little work for 1 full year! And now I work only 1 day a week, sometimes less! I don't have kids or a husband and still live with my parents because I can't support myself. Don't become a hygienist because you WILL regret it!