Earning a Dental Hygiene Education

A dental hygienist is a licensed preventive oral health professional who provides educational, clinical, and therapeutic services to the public. In order to become prepared to perform these services, the dental hygienist requires a thorough educational background.

Admission requirements and prerequisites vary from institution to institution, but generally include many of the following:

• high school diploma or GED
• 18 year age minimum
• high school courses in mathematics, chemistry, biology, English
• minimum “C” average in high school
• college entrance test scores
• depending on the institution, prerequisite courses in chemistry, English, speech, psychology and sociology
  
• depending on the institution, a personal interview, dexterity test, and/or essay
  

Dental hygiene education is a minimum of 2 years, but can be as long as 4 years.

• 2 year programs offer a certificate or associate degree
• 4 year programs offer a baccalaureate degree
• Master’s level programs are offered for those interested in education, research, or administration

An accredited dental hygiene program requires an average of 1,948 clock hours of curriculum. This includes 585 clock hours of supervised clinical dental hygiene instruction.

• general education courses including English, speech, psychology and sociology
• basic science courses including general chemistry, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, nutrition, and pharmacology
• dental science courses including dental anatomy, head and neck anatomy, oral embryology and histology, oral pathology, radiography, periodontology, pain control and dental materials
• dental hygiene science courses including oral health education and preventive counseling, patient management, clinical dental hygiene, community dental health, medical and dental emergencies including basic life support, and legal and ethical aspects of dental hygiene practice
• supervised instruction in pre-clinical and clinical practice

ADHA Online includes a list of all dental hygiene programs in the country. Contact the college of your choice for specific admissions requirements.