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There is a heated debate on a dental hygienist website. When using RDH or Registered Dental Hygienist when do you use "an" and "a"? I was taught to write "an RDH" since the letter R in this situation has a vowel sound. When not using the acronym "RDH", it should be written "a Registered Dental Hygienist" because the letter R has a consonant sound. Please help.

A. Druann Andrecht
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  • As an initialism, it's an RDH. See the linked question. If the reader always expands "RDH" into reading "Registered Dental Hygienist" then things could get nasty. But that doesn't often happen; RDH would normally be read as "RDH", particularly if preceded by an. – Andrew Leach Apr 03 '15 at 00:44
  • You are correct. – Hot Licks Apr 03 '15 at 00:46
  • You can't tell whether it should be "an" or "a", because it depends on the pronunciation of what follows. And you can't tell what the pronunciation of RDH is, since sometimes we say acronyms by saying their letters, and sometimes we say what the acronym stands for. – Greg Lee Apr 03 '15 at 00:54

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