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Dental Hygiene Prerequisites and Training
By allied health world contributing writer
Published: January 18th, 2010
What are the prerequisites for entering dental hygienist programs?
Dental Hygienist schools offering entry-level associate’s and baccalaureate programs tend to set the same admissions requirements. Among these are a high school diploma or equivalent GED. It is expected that high school classes included English, biology, chemistry, and mathematics, and that all these classes were completed with a minimum “C” average 2.5 GPA or better.Some baccalaureate dental hygienist training programs may expect as many as 40 credit hours of college level coursework in speech, chemistry, English, psychology, and sociology. For the more tenacious high school students who have already set their sites on a career in dental hygiene, this college level curriculum can be completed through either online schools or community colleges even while students are still in high school.
What are my online options for dental hygienist training?
It is inevitable that dental hygienist schools would make the effort to reduce unnecessary overhead while increasing the
accessibility of their programs. This has been accomplished with the evolution of hybrid programs that provide hands on lab-based training in the traditional settings, but that also provide distance-learning classes online. These hybrid programs offer online classes for the less-technical academic courses that don’t require hands on training or have lab based components. Hybrid programs that involve some distance learning classes are becoming increasingly common for all the right reasons. These dental hygienist programs are accredited by CODA (The Commission on Dental Accreditation) and are held to the same educational standards as campus based programs offering conventional classroom based instruction exclusively. Students of dental hygiene are more and more commonly gravitating towards these online hybrid programs since they adhere to the same standard of excellence as programs offered by conventional institutions, while also offering the convenience and cost saving benefit of online schooling.Adding distance learning to the dental hygienist training process helps facilitate the highest quality comprehensive training without the added expense and unproductive time required of programs that require a daily commute.
Allowing certain constituents of dental hygiene programs to be taken online has effectively reduced the cost associated with training for this profession. This reduction in cost is felt on both ends; both within the coffers of America’s dental hygienist schools as well as in the checking accounts of dental hygiene students.
What advanced techniques are taught in contemporary dental hygiene training programs?
Although the fundamentals of good oral hygiene remain much the same as they did when dentistry become a fixture in American society over 100 years ago, this profession has evolved considerably to include more advanced techniques that make use of more sophisticated technology. Today’s Dental hygienist schools will still take students through all the time-tested conventional methods for achieving and maintaining good oral hygiene including applied flossing, plaque removal through scraping, and tongue cleaning to remove halitosis-causing bacteria. Beyond this; however, contemporary dental hygienist programs will also teach interdental brushing, gum care, and oral irrigation techniques.©2012 Alliedhealthworld.com All rights reserved.