Supervisory Dental Hygienist

About the role

The Supervisory Dental Hygienist serves as the senior clinical and administrative leader for the Dental Hygiene Program within the Central Texas VA Health Care System (CTVHCS), providing comprehensive oversight for dental hygiene operations located in Temple, Waco, and Austin. The primary duty station and patient care responsibilities will be in Temple. The 25% travel is intended to provide flexibility for occasional visits to Waco or Austin for supervisory responsibilities, staff meetings, or other operational needs as necessary; routine travel is not anticipated.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education: Associate degree or higher from an accredited dental hygiene program. The degree must have been obtained from an institution whose accreditation was in place for the year in which the course of study was completed. Approved programs are those accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Education completed outside the United States must be considered at least equivalent to that gained in CODA-accredited U.S. programs and would enable the candidate to sit for the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination administered by the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations.
• Licensure/Certification: Currently licensed to practice as a dental hygienist with a full, current, and unrestricted license in a State, Territory, or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia.
• Radiologic Credentialing: Per P.L. 97-35 (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981) and 42 C.F.R. Part 75, persons who administer radiologic procedures must have successfully completed an educational program that meets or exceeds the standards described in that regulation, is accredited by an organization recognized by the Department of Education, and be certified as radiographers in their field.
• Foreign Education: Education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.
• Physical Requirements: Per VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Service.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). May qualify based on the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees in this occupation who meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations – Dental Hygienist GS-11

• Experience: At least one year of experience at the next lower grade level (GS-10) that demonstrates the clinical competencies described at that level.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (in addition to GS-10 KSAs):
  • Ability to work independently to set priorities, delegate tasks, meet multiple deadlines, analyze organizational problems, and develop and implement effective solutions to optimize quality, efficiency, performance, and productivity within the service.
  • Ability to develop policy, manage equipment requests, and provide workload analysis in Dental Clinic operations.
  • Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills including skill in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team members, managers, and other departments.
  • Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties including assignment of work, competency assessments, performance evaluations, selection of staff, and recommendation of awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary actions.

Preferred Experience

• At least 3 years of progressive experience as a Registered Dental Hygienist, with preferably at least 2 years in a Lead Dental Hygienist or supervisory/leadership role.
• Demonstrated leadership experience in managing, training, and providing professional oversight to dental hygienists and support staff, including staff development, workload distribution, scheduling, and conflict resolution.
• Strong clinical knowledge and experience in comprehensive dental hygiene care, infection control, patient safety, and compliance with applicable VA/VHA policies, clinical guidelines, and regulatory requirements.
• Excellent customer service, communication, and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with dental providers, leadership, staff, and interdisciplinary teams.
• Experience utilizing Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel, electronic health record systems, and other applicable clinical/administrative systems for reporting, workload tracking, productivity monitoring, and clinic operations.
• Experience coordinating dental clinic workflow, managing staff assignments and workload, and implementing process or quality-improvement initiatives to enhance patient access, safety, productivity, and overall clinic efficiency.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11.

Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation and would generally not require a pre-placement examination.

Responsibilities

• Provides direct supervision, administrative management, and professional oversight of all dental hygienists assigned to existing Temple, Waco, and Austin clinics.
• Develops staffing plans, workload distribution strategies, clinic schedules, productivity standards, and access improvement initiatives.
• Conducts recruitment, interviews, onboarding, orientation, competency assessments, performance evaluations, recognition programs, and corrective actions as appropriate.
• Develops and maintains policies, procedures, functional statements, competency assessment tools, and clinical practice guidelines.
• Monitors compliance with VHA directives, Office of Dentistry requirements, Joint Commission standards, OSHA regulations, infection prevention standards, privacy requirements, and local facility policies.
• Analyzes productivity, access metrics, quality indicators, patient outcomes, recall effectiveness, workload trends, and performance measures.
• Provides recommendations to leadership regarding resource utilization, staffing requirements, process improvements, and strategic initiatives.
• Provides advanced clinical dental hygiene services including comprehensive periodontal assessments, prophylaxis, scaling and root planing, administration of local anesthesia where authorized, preventive therapies, oral health education, tobacco cessation counseling, and management of medically compromised patients.
• Serves as a subject matter expert in preventive dentistry, periodontal disease prevention, and oral health promotion.
• Coordinates educational activities, staff development programs, competency validation, continuing education opportunities, and student training experiences.
• Participates in committees, interdisciplinary teams, performance improvement activities, infection prevention initiatives, and organizational workgroups supporting facility goals.

Schedule

Monday – Friday, 7:30 am – 4:00 pm. Telework is not available. This is not a virtual position.

Additional information

• Functional Statement #: Supervisory Dental Hygienist/56522-F – CLC: S01
• Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized