A hygienist is a professional who specializes in techniques to maintain oral health and hygiene. Dental hygienists help patients develop behaviors that promote oral health, offer preventive services to promote and maintain good oral health and also provide therapeutic treatments that stop diseases and maintain healthy tissues in the mouth. Hygienists also remove the harder to clean dirt from your teeth and gums when you go for routine dentist visits. Although dental hygienists are not as skilled as dentists they offer more clinical backing compared to dental assistants. Most hygienists work for dentists while some of them are certified to administer local anesthesia.

Hygienists review the patient's medical history, identify the problem and prescribe appropriate course of treatment after which they evaluate the patient's oral health and hygiene for a year or so. Dental hygiene programs differ from country to country, some countries require hygienists to be registered under the dental board and others only require them to have degrees from accredited universities. Dental hygienists work in private practices, clinical practices, research units or public health programs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for all types of hygienists will be much greater than the average growth rate of other professions by 2022.

There are many traditional universities offering hygienist degrees that can be earned through online methods. Students are prepared to practice the dental hygiene that is entry level on doing the Associate in Applied Science degree. There are a variety of levels of dental hygiene programs available on line, they are; Online Dental Hygiene Certificate Programs, Online Associates in Dental Hygiene, Online Bachelor in Dental Hygiene, Online Masters in Dental Hygiene, Online PhD in Dental Hygiene etc. The certification programs take from 6 months to a year to complete, the associate degrees and master degrees take 2 years, the bachelor degrees take 4 years and the PhD's degrees take 5 years. The online dental hygienist programs contain courses on oral anatomy, dental radiology, nutrition and oral health, oral pathology, periodontology etc.

There are a number of accredited dental hygienist schools online, two of the most popular schools are as follows;
1. Phoenix College: The program is accredited by The Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. Graduates from this college are also licensed to practice as a dental hygienist once they graduate.
2. University of Bridgeport: The University of Bridgeport has been accredited since 1953 by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, Council on Post-Secondary Accreditation and the United States Department of Education. Graduates from the University are considered eligible for national, regional and state examinations.

Other colleges that offer dental hygienist degrees include, University of Missouri-Kansas City, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University of Michigan etc.