Dental Hygienist Resume Example

Priya Sharma

[email protected] • (555) 290-0000 • Phoenix, AZ • linkedin.com/in/priyasharma • RDH, AZ License #RDH-041892

Professional Summary

Registered dental hygienist (RDH) with 7 years of clinical experience in general dentistry and periodontal-focused practices. Skilled in full-mouth debridement, SRP, digital radiography, and patient education across diverse adult and pediatric patient populations. Consistent 4.9/5.0 patient satisfaction scores over 4 years. Known for high recall retention rates, efficient appointment management, and the ability to build lasting patient relationships that reduce no-shows and support practice growth.

Experience

Lead Registered Dental Hygienist Sonoran Family Dental — Scottsdale, AZ | 2021–Present

Perform prophylaxis, full-mouth SRP, and periodontal maintenance for an average of 10–12 patients per day in a high-volume general dentistry practice; maintained a patient recall retention rate of 84% against a national benchmark of 72%.
Introduced an intraoral camera patient education workflow that increased case acceptance for recommended periodontal treatment by 31% within 6 months of implementation.
Mentor and schedule 2 part-time hygienists; standardized perio charting protocols across the hygiene department, reducing documentation inconsistencies by an estimated 60%.
Completed 480+ digital periapical and bitewing radiograph series in 2025 with zero repeat exposures flagged by the overseeing dentist for diagnostic quality issues.

Registered Dental Hygienist Desert Periodontal Specialists — Mesa, AZ | 2018–2021

Provided periodontal maintenance and adjunctive therapy for a specialty perio practice; managed a daily schedule of 8–10 patients with complex periodontal histories including post-surgical maintenance, implant care, and antimicrobial therapy.
Delivered oral hygiene instruction and tobacco cessation counseling to new patient consultations; 3-month re-evaluation appointments showed measurable BOP reduction in 78% of patients who completed the counseling protocol.
Assisted in implementing Dentrix for perio charting migration from paper records; trained 4 clinical staff on the new workflow, completing migration 2 weeks ahead of the practice owner’s deadline.

Dental Hygienist Bright Smiles Dental — Tempe, AZ | 2016–2018

Provided preventive hygiene services for adult and pediatric patients in a family general practice; grew personal patient recall base from 0 to 280 active patients within 18 months.
Applied sealants and fluoride treatments for 60+ pediatric patients per month; documented all services in Eaglesoft with zero billing discrepancy flags during 2-year tenure.

Education & Licensure

A.A.S. Dental Hygiene • RDH License, State of Arizona • CPR/BLS (current) Midwestern University — 2016

Clinical Skills & Tools

Clinical: Prophylaxis, SRP, full-mouth debridement, periodontal maintenance, sealants, fluoride, local anesthesia (AZ permit), nitrous oxide monitoring • Imaging: Digital periapical, bitewing, panoramic, CBCT review • Software: Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Carestream, Dexis • Patient Care: Oral hygiene instruction, tobacco cessation, case presentation, implant maintenance

Why this resume works

RDH licensure and license number appear in the contact line. Dental office managers check licensure before scheduling a phone screen. Front-loading it removes a verification step and signals professionalism.

Recall retention rate (84% vs. 72% benchmark) is precisely the number a practice owner cares about most. It translates directly to revenue and patient lifetime value, and almost no hygienist resume includes it.

The intraoral camera education bullet documents a behavior change: 31% increase in case acceptance. Showing that patient education translated into accepted treatment is a practice-growth contribution most hygienists leave off their resume.

Radiograph quality is treated as an outcome: zero repeat exposures flagged. Clinical quality metrics on a hygienist resume are rare and signal attention to detail that practice owners genuinely value.

Software names (Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Carestream) are listed exactly as they appear in job postings, ensuring ATS keyword match in systems that filter for practice management platform experience.

3 tips for dental hygienists in 2026

Lead with your state license and any local anesthesia or nitrous permits Expanded function permits vary by state and are a competitive differentiator in markets where practices want one hygienist to handle more of the appointment scope. If you hold a local anesthesia administration permit or a nitrous oxide monitoring certificate, list them prominently. Practices in competitive hiring markets look for these credentials before everything else.

Show recall retention and patient volume numbers Patient recall rate is the single most practice-relevant metric a hygienist controls. If your personal recall base stayed above 80% or you grew a patient panel from scratch, put those numbers on your resume. Daily patient volume is equally useful for practices evaluating scheduling fit, so include your average per-day appointment count for each role.

Name every practice management software you have used Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Carestream, Open Dental, and Dexis are searchable terms in dental hiring. Practices switching software prefer hygienists who already know their platform. List all systems you have used, not just your most recent one, and note if you have trained colleagues or helped migrate records between systems.