If you're interested in people, health, and have good hand-eye coordination, you might consider a career as a dental hygienist. You need to have a high school diploma before applying to dental hygienist programs, but there's a steady need for dental hygienists and it's a great career for those with the right skill set.Dental hygienists assist dentists in caring for patients' dental health. The specific tasks that hygienists may perform vary from state to state. But typically hygienists assist with patient evaluation and diagnostics, record and chart keeping, perform checks for oral cancer and gum disease, remove plaque and calculus from patient's teeth, provide fluoride treatments, expose, create molds and take impressions of patients' teeth, process and interpret dental x-rays and images, assist in administering anesthetic or nitrous oxide, mix ceramic and amalgams for fillings, place temporary fillings in patients' teeth, and educate patients regarding dental health and hygiene and nutrition.In order to be a dental hygienist, you must first earn a degree in dental hygiene from an accredited college or university, then pass a written national board examination administered by the American Dental Association's Joint Commission on National Dental Examination, and a clinical exam in order to earn a license to practice. At that point, a dental hygienist is listed as either RDH (Registered Dental Hygienist or LDH, Licensed Dental Hygienist, depending on the state that issues the license.Before applying to an accredited dental hygienist program at a college, you must have a high school diploma. You will also need to take one or more standardized college entrance exams. Different schools will require the SAT or the ACT. Most schools offer a two-year Associate's degree in Dental Hygiene, but there are schools that offer a four-year Bachelors degree, and even an M.S. graduate degree in dental hygiene. The ADHA offers a list of schools with accredited dental hygienist programs.