Dental Hygiene AAS Degree (DH13)
The Dental Hygiene associate degree program is a sequence of courses that prepares students for positions in the dental profession. Learning opportunities develop academic, technical, and professional knowledge and skills required for job acquisition, retention, and advancement. Registered dental hygienists work in a variety of professional settings. The public is most familiar with dental hygienists in the private dental office, where they perform numerous critical services designed to detect and prevent diseases of the mouth. These include oral prophylaxis; examining the head, neck, and oral areas for signs of disease; educating patients about oral hygiene; taking or developing radiographs; and applying fluoride or sealants. In this setting, registered dental hygienists play a vital role in protecting the oral health of the American public. The Dental Hygiene Program is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, 211 East Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611-2678; 312.440.7494; www.ada.org. This accreditation enables graduates to take any regional or state board in the nation.
Career Opportunities
Most dental hygienists work as part of a dental team in private dental practices. Other employment opportunities exist in Health Management Organizations, hospitals, military bases, and community clinics. Further career choices include working for dental supply companies, dental product or pharmaceutical companies, various government agencies or insurance companies. Many dental hygienists continue their education and complete advanced degrees that will allow them to teach dental hygiene or dental assisting, or become dental practice consultants, researchers, editors, dentists or professional writers.
Transfer of Credit for Dental Hygiene
Due to the nature of dental hygiene, the admissions requirements and transfer of credit policy for the program require testing a student’s level of knowledge when a transfer of any dental hygiene course is considered. According to West Georgia Technical College’s policy, if a DHYG course request for transfer credit is received for a course completed with a grade of C or above from another accredited college, a student must take an equivalency examination and in some situations, such as Dental Materials and Radiology, a laboratory competency examination. The didactic and laboratory competency grade must be an 80 or above to consider the transfer of credit. The time limitations for considering these credits are the same as for science courses; the course must have been within the previous seven years. Clinical and preclinical courses will not be considered for transfer due to the uniqueness of each dental hygiene program.
Competitive Selection Process
Dental Hygiene Preparatory/Core Courses
The annual deadline is June 1. To be eligible for the Dental Hygiene program selection, the student must complete the following requirements by the applicable deadline. The student:
Dental Hygiene Competitive Selection
In addition to completion of the core courses listed above, the Dental Hygiene program requires students in competitive selection to complete the Psychological Service Bureau (PSB) Health Occupations Aptitude Examination, Edition 3 or the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS). (The PSB will no longer be accepted after the June 1, 2022 application deadline.) Please refer to the Admissions section of this catalog for details of the Competitive Selection Process applicant requirements and scoring method, including bonus points. Additional information is also available on the DH program web page.
Students ranked with the highest overall scores for required course completion and PSB or TEAS exam will be selected for program admission.
Dental Hygiene Occupational and Clinical Courses
Students selected for admission to the Dental Hygiene program will complete the occupational and clinical program courses in a prescribed sequence as a cohort. A class is admitted each fall semester.
Credit Required for Graduation: Minimum of 83 credit hours
Curriculum
All Associate of Applied Science Degrees require a minimum 15 credit hours of general education courses using the curriculum structure outlined in the beginning of this degree program section. The Dental Hygiene associate degree program requires an additional 3 credit hours in Area I, an additional 3 credit hours in Area II, and an additional 4 hours in Area III, for a total of 22 credit hours. All course prerequisites must be met. Please see Associate Degree General Education Requirement Section for Area I, Area II, Area III, and Area IV requirements.
General Core Courses
Area I requirements (minimum 6 hours; must include ENGL 1101 and SPCH 1101)
Area II requirements (minimum 6 hours; must include PSYC 1101 and SOCI 1101)
Area III requirements (minimum 7 hours; must include MATH 1101 or MATH 1111 and CHEM 1211/CHEM 1211L or CHEM 1151/CHEM 1151L)
Area IV requirements (minimum 3 hours)
Occupational Courses
- Must complete CHEM 1211/CHEM 1211L or CHEM 1151/CHEM 1151L with a minimum grade of C prior to entering the program, but the grade for this course is not calculated in the GPA for the competitive selection process. The student must complete BIOL 2117/BIOL 2117L with a minimum grade of C prior to entering the program.