Dental Hygiene

DENTAL HYGIENE

A dental hygienist is a licensed oral health professional who provides preventive, therapeutic, restorative, and educational interventions to control oral disease and promote optimal oral health. A dental hygienist is a highly skilled clinician who uses a variety of interpersonal skills as they work closely with patients and co-workers.

As part of the dental team the employment opportunities vary from private offices to public health. Dental hygienists also have career opportunities in areas of education, research, development, dental technology, therapeutics and management. Courses in the sciences and health fields such as, biology, psychology, chemistry, mathematics, and speech will be beneficial to a student interested in a dental hygiene career.

Lane Community College & Umpqua Community College offer a cooperative education opportunity to obtain an Associate of Applied Science, AAS, 2-year degree and ready the successful student for the state and national licensure testing. The lecture courses are provided by Lane Community College faculty utilizing the online Moodle delivery system. The clinical education is provided at the Umpqua Community College distance site. The dental hygiene credits are transferable for bachelor degree completion. The prerequisite courses required for admittance to the Dental Hygiene program can be obtained at Umpqua Community College.

Application and registration is available online through Lane Community College and can be found at: http://www.lanecc.edu/hp/dental/dh.htm

The required prerequisites can be found at the following link, http://www.lanecc.edu/collegecatalog/documents/CTdentalhygiene.pdf

ADA dental hygiene career description:

http://www.ada.org/public/careers/team/hygienist.asp