Featured Career · Health Sciences

Dental hygienist.

Every quarter we visit a Fox Valley employer and ask the people doing the work what the career really takes. This quarter: Fairview Dental in Aurora, where dentists and hygienists answered seven questions on camera.

Four minutes, straight from the source.
The film · Fairview Dental, Aurora

Seven questions.
Four minutes.

What the work demands, what it pays, what it costs to qualify, and whether it’s a career people stay in. Their answers, in order.

  1. 01The demand
  2. 02What they look for
  3. 03Starting pay
  4. 04What hygienists mean to the practice
  5. 05Why they chose it
  6. 06The education: time, cost, difficulty
  7. 07Is this a long-term career?
4:20 · captions on · sound up Download · 77 MB
The short version

Three things they told us.

Each one in their own words, from the film.

Hiring

Practices can’t find enough hygienists.

It’s a well-known fact that there’s a shortage of hygienists out there… it’s a great time to get into it. Dr. David Gorenz
$45/hr

Starting pay for a new hygiene graduate at Fairview.

Our office, we’d start them out at $45 an hour. So not a bad gig right out of school. Dr. Salvador Cardenas · Dr. Dominguez and Dr. Gorenz gave the same figure
3–4 yrs

From high school to working, prerequisites included.

About a total of four years… two years of gen eds, prereqs, and then two years in the actual program. Bethany, hygienist · College of DuPage
Where JCD comes in

Dental hygiene is a
health sciences path.

Hygiene programs at community colleges qualify. JCD can help pay tuition, room and board, books and related supplies, up to half of those costs, paid directly to your school.

Next quarter we’ll feature another career from one of our three areas: advanced manufacturing, health sciences and the building trades.

With thanks to Dr. David Dominguez and the team at Fairview Dental.

“Is this a long-term career?”
“Absolutely.”
Applications open Dec 1, 2026

Tell us what you
want to do.

Three hundred words, no fee, no transcript minimum, no questions about your family's money. Applications run December 1 through February 28. Everyone hears back by March 31.

Start an application Read our story