Dental Hygiene Schools

Dental hygiene schools will prepare you for a professional where you have opportunity to help others upkeep their dental health.

As with most health care related positions, careers in dental health are on the rise. If you have the right dental training you can pursue a career as a dental technician or dental assistant. You can find a dental hygiene school near you and get an associate degree in dental hygiene. Dental hygiene is important for both health and aesthetic reasons and dental hygienists, work with dentists to promote good dental care and to prevent related health ailments. As a dental hygienist or dental technician, you would work chair side as dentists examine and treat patients. You would also prepare patients for treatment, perform cleaning procedures and obtain dental records. Dental hygienists work in private dental offices for licensed dentists, hospitals, public health clinics, dental schools, and dental hygiene education programs. Most programs are two years long and lead to an associate's degree. They are offered through community colleges and technical colleges and community colleges. Request information about colleges in your area or online dental assistant programs to learn more about this related career.

Locate Dental Assistant Training Programs in your area

Search for Online Dental Hygiene Programs

Selected Colleges with Dental Assistant and Dental Hygienist Programs

High-Tech Institute

• Dental Assistant

Everest College of Business, Technology and Health Care

• Dental Assisting

Concorde Career College

• Dental Assistant

Apollo College

• Dental Assisting

Herzing University

• Dental Assisting

Kaplan College

• Dental Assisting

Kaplan Career Institute

• Dental Assisting

Lincoln Technical Institute

• Dental Assistant

San Joaquin Valley College

• Dental Assisting

Penn Foster

• Dental Assistant

Heald College

• Dental Assistant

IntelliTec College

• Dental Assistant

ATI Career Training Center

• Dental Assistant

ECPI University

• Dental Assisting

The Bryman School of Arizona

• Dental Assistant

West Coast University

• Dental Hygiene

Dental Hygiene Schools and Dental Assistant Programs Canada (Diploma Programs)

University Canada West

• Dental Office Administrator

CDI College of Business, Technology and Health Care

• Intra-Oral Dental Assistant (IODA)
• Expanded Training in Orthodontics / Scaling (IODA II)

Vancouver Career College

• Community Health Care (CHC)
• Medical and Dental Office Assistant (MDOA)

Dental Hygienist Education and Training

To become a dental hygienist, you'll need to have either a two-year or four-year degree from an accredited dental hygiene school. Programs are offered by at community colleges and two year degree granting institutions. At dental colleges you would also be trained to make people feel as comfortable as possible in the dental chair. To perform all these tasks you would have to take courses in dental anatomy, physiology, biology, chemistry, math, periodontics, oral health other sciences. Students also take courses in microbiology, pharmacology, radiography, nutrition, histology, periodontology, pathology, dental materials, and clinical dental hygiene.

Most dental hygiene programs grant an associate degree to their students but others grant a certificate. A minimum of an associate degree or certificate in dental hygiene is usually required to work in a private dental office. In addition, dentist receptionist training courses may be offered, or learned as part of the job training.

Dental hygienists are required to be licensed by the state in which they practice. In order to qualify for licensure, they must have graduated from an accredited dental hygiene program and pass and clinical exams.

Dental Hygienist Careers

Dental hygienists prepare supplies for making impressions and restorations, take oral x-rays, and develop the film under a dentist's supervision. You may also be responsible for removing sutures, applying treatment to gum and teeth using topical anesthetics and cavity-preventing agents respectively, cleaning up excess cement from a filling, and placing special rubber dams on teeth for isolation before individual treatment.

Forming casts of teeth and mouth is performed in the laboratory in addition to cleaning and polishing of detachable appliances and making temporary crowns. Office assistants are responsible for scheduling and reminding patients of appointments, checking patients in, managing bills and payments, keeping records, and ordering dental materials. Dental hygienists teach patients proper dental care – brushing and losing for example. They also use various equipment such as ray equipment and clean teeth using ultrasonic, rotary, and manual tools.

Some states license dental hygienists to:

• Place and removing filling materials, temporary fillings and periodontal dressings
• Smooth and polish metal restorations
• Prepare clinical and laboratory diagnostic tests for the dentist to interpret
• Administer anesthetics

Expected Salary and Projected Career Growth

Most dental offices require you to have completed career-focused training from accredited dental hygiene schools. In many dental schools you can complete your training within one to two years depending on your track. There are many careers available in the dental industry. In fact, dental assisting is considered to be one of the fastest-growing positions in the United States job market.

After graduating from dental hygiene schools, dental careers pay from 9.00 to $40.00 an hour, varying with training and experience, and many careers also offer health and dental benefits. The median annual income for dental hygienists in the first few years of employment is between $21,600 and $30,500, while with more experience earn $24,000 and $37,500 a year.