# Competences — dental hygienist

Source: ESCO v1.2.1 occupation-skill relations (http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/d18deca3-3063-4970-9ddc-e3c70404a28c).

## Essential

- **accept own accountability** (skill/competence)
- **apply antibacterial substance to teeth** (skill/competence)
- **apply context specific clinical competences** (skill/competence)
- **apply organisational techniques** (skill/competence)
- **communicate in healthcare** (skill/competence)
- **comply with legislation related to health care** (skill/competence)
- **contribute to continuity of health care** (skill/competence)
- **counsel on nutrition and its impact on oral health** (skill/competence)
- **deal with emergency care situations** (skill/competence)
- **deal with patients' anxiety** (skill/competence)
- **develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship** (skill/competence)
- **educate on oral healthcare and disease prevention** (skill/competence)
- **empathise with the healthcare user** (skill/competence)
- **ensure safety of healthcare users** (skill/competence)
- **evaluate clinical outcomes of dental hygiene interventions** (skill/competence)
- **follow clinical guidelines** (skill/competence)
- **follow dentists' instructions** (skill/competence)
- **interact with healthcare users** (skill/competence)
- **listen actively** (skill/competence)
- **manage infection control in the facility** (skill/competence)
- **perform dental charting** (skill/competence)
- **perform dental hygiene interventions** (skill/competence)
- **perform dental radiographs** (skill/competence)
- **polish dental restorations** (skill/competence)
- **promote health and safety policies in health services** (skill/competence)
- **promote inclusion** (skill/competence)
- **provide health education** (skill/competence)
- **remove calculus, plaque and stains** (skill/competence)
- **respond to changing situations in health care** (skill/competence)
- **use e-health and mobile health technologies** (skill/competence)
- **work in a multicultural environment in health care** (skill/competence)
- **work in multidisciplinary health teams** (skill/competence)

## Optional

- inform policy makers on health-related challenges (skill/competence)
- keep records for dental prostheses (skill/competence)
- use foreign languages in patient care (skill/competence)
- use technical equipment for sterilisation (skill/competence)

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## Market evidence (job-ad analysis, 52 ads, as of 2026-07-11)

Share of analyzed job ads mentioning the item (threshold ≥ 20 %). Source: JSearch/Adzuna APIs.

### Hard skills

- patient education — **35 %**
- dental hygiene — **25 %**
- dental cleaning — **21 %**
- charting — **19 %**
- patient assessment — **19 %**
- patient screening — **19 %**

### Methods

- hipaa compliance — **19 %**

### Responsibilities

- patient education — **21 %**

<!-- market-evidence -->