Should I become a dental hygenist or a nurse? I just cannot decide?

I always thought I would do nursing because i'm smart, inquisitive and love school (especially biology and sciences) however, i see now more than ever that nurses have it really tough. Yes they always have a job but they have to deal with gross stuff and work long and weird hours! I was picturing a 9-5 doctors office type job. Now I'm thinking about doing the dental hygenist because that seems like fun and you get paid about the same. Just wondering, do they get benefits (the dental hygenists?) Also is there that jobb versitile? could i go to school and get my bachelors degree in it? I love school and want to get at least my bachelors in whatever i do and i thought dental hygenists only got their associates? please help!

Should I become a dental hygenist or a nurse? I just cannot decide?
You also need to be very caring and loving and not be in it just for the money. ANY career in the health field is demanding. Yes, there are BA programs for hygenists, but you need to ask yourself this question: will it gross you out to have to scrape plaque, tartar and calculus off of teeth? Will it gross you out to have to suction blood out of patient's mouths, or that you will be exposing yourself to HIV, Hepatitis and a whole lot of other doozies as well? Dental hygenists don't hold jobs that are for the faint of heart. As an RN, you CAN in fact work in a doctor's office. It will all come down to your preference.
Reply:I passed the entrance exam for both the dental hygiene and nursing programs in my school...so that left me with a very tough choice! I was planning on just going into whichever program I got into based on the exam... I chose dental hygiene because:


-the hours are not as crazy as nursing... although you can get a job in a doctor's office they usually make far less money than nurses who work in hospitals.


-The educational aspect was very similar for each program. Heavily based in the sciences, which is interesting to me


-I have always had a fascination with pretty teeth and considered personal dental hygiene important even before deciding that's what i wanted to make my career.





I went to payscale.com and entered the info requested for both nursing and hygiene. The starting pay is actualy greater in my area for hygienists.... and if you look at the average pays, they're just about the same. Remember that the average pay collects data from everyone.... most nurses work overtime, most hygienists work part time. Therefore, I thought, the hygenists were working less hours for the same amount of money!





Some dental practices do offer health benefits, but if the hygienist is working less that 30 hours a week, most don't.





Both jobs involved a high paced, people oriented environment where you needed to be able to function under (possibly) stressful situations... so what it ultimately came down to for me was that I would rather be removing calculus form someone's teeth at 1PM than inserting a catheter or cleaning up vomit at 3AM!





I still wonder what life would have been like as a nurse.... I bet I woulda loved it! But I wouldn't change my decision if I had to do it again. I loved hygiene school, and I love being a hygienist. But god bless all the nurses working crazy hours.... without them, hospitals couldn't function!