Yohei Akiyama, a 42-year-old dental hygienist in the city of Kagoshima, smiles wryly when patients mistakenly call him doctor. It has become a familiar episode for Akiyama since he became the first ¡°male hygienist¡± in Kyushu 10 years ago.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry¡¯s 2020 statistics, there are only 91 male dental hygienists in Japan, or just 0.06% of the 142,760 registered hygienists across the nation.
The probability of encountering one as a patient is close to the rate of winning the top prize in the year-end ¡°jumbo¡± lottery. In Kyushu, only eight men work as dental hygienists, making them extremely rare.
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