Dr. Loren Peck is fully staffed with two dental hygienists at his practice in Bennington, but across Vermont hygienists are in demand, according to the J. Warren & Lois McClure Foundation, which has included them in all six iterations of its "Vermont's Most Promising Jobs" brochures.

The McClure Foundation said some 450 dental hygienists will be needed in Vermont over the next decade, in a job that pays a median wage of $35 an hour, or $73,350 per year. Peck said experienced hygienists can command up to $60 an hour, which translates into $124,800 per year. Not bad for The Brave Little State.

Yet, Peck said, the job of dental hygienist is "not a profession that is necessarily on young people's radar."

"I don't know why," he said. "As a profession, we need to get better at getting out there and being seen. How do I put this? It's not sexy like medicine. There are no television shows about dentists who crash through the door and do a filling. But it's necessary health care."

Dental assistants are also in demand in Vermont, according to Peck. Again, he's fully staffed with four assistants, but he said especially in rural parts of Vermont, such as the Northeast Kingdom, they're hard to come by. Dental assistants don't make the kind of money hygienists do, but they still have a median wage of $22.55 per hour, or $46,910 annually. Median wage means half make more and half make less.

Dental hygienists make more because formal training is involved and their duties carry more responsibility. A hygienist cleans your teeth and assesses any problems or needs you have. They advise you on keeping your teeth healthy, and may provide fluoride treatment or topical anesthesia.

Dental assistants can learn on the job, according to Peck, and perform limited clinical duties under the direction of a dentist. They prepare equipment and sterilize it. They prepare patients for treatment and assist the dentist during treatment. They also may perform administrative duties, such as scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records and billing for insurance purposes.

Peck compares dental assistants to surgical nurses in the operating room, maintaining the safety of the patient and making sure the surgical field is isolated.

"It's an extremely important job requiring an immense amount of skill," Peck said. "The difference (compared to hygienists) is a board exam is not necessary. There's not the need of a formal training process."

Vermont Technical College in Williston offers the state's only collegiate program for dental hygienists. Peck described the program as "relatively small."

"There's not a lot of formal education opportunities in the state of Vermont," Peck said. "That's hard."

Once you have the training though, you have "portable skills that can go anywhere," according to Peck.

"We're trying to let people know these are great jobs that allow people to have a good life," Peck said.

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 802-660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Dental jobs in demand in VT include assistants and hygienists