Dental Hygiene

This course emphasizes the dental hygienist’s role as a clinician-educator who designs, delivers, and evaluates oral health education for individuals and communities. Using health promotion and behavior change theory, students develop culturally responsive communication skills (including motivational interviewing and health literacy strategies) to tailor education across the lifespan and for patients with medically complex conditions and developmental disabilities. Course content includes patient education for oral cancer prevention (including HPV-related risk), dental trauma prevention/first-aid messaging, and host defense concepts for risk counseling, as well as evidence-based selection of oral health products, athletic mouthguards, and emerging technologies. Students apply these competencies through community lesson plan development, tobacco cessation counseling practice, and creation of an adaptive oral health education aid.

This course introduces the history and principles of community dental health and provides knowledge of skills and behaviors necessary to promote dental health and prevent dental disease through organized community-based programs. Topics include the prevention of oral disease, health promotion and communication theories, dental epidemiology and oral indices, and principles of community program assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Issues surrounding access to care and the development of community dental programs are presented. In addition, students will gain insight into research design, statistical methods, and evaluation.

This course is designed to provide the students with career planning and job search techniques and skills. Topics include career exploration, sources for job information, networking, employment applications, cover letters, resumes, and interviewing. Students will develop skills that, along with their education, can lead to achieving personal goals and career success.