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Dental Hygiene (AS) Health Sciences Total Units: 100
Term Effective: Fall 2020

Description:

Students applying for the fall 2022 program should use the prerequisites listed below.

Students applying for the fall 2021 program should use the prerequisties from the 2019-20 catalog.

The Dental Hygiene Associate Degree program at Santa Rosa Junior College is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. The Commission is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education.

Students receive a comprehensive education in the health sciences and in clinical dental hygiene and are prepared for entry into the practice of dental hygiene. Upon successful completion of the program, the graduate will be able to apply knowledge and scientific concepts to assess needs, recognize problems, establish oral health goals and provide appropriate dental health care services and evaluate outcomes. The graduate will receive an Associate Degree from Santa Rosa Junior College, and will be eligible to take the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination and the California Dental Hygiene Board Examination.

The dental hygienist is a licensed professional oral health educator with specialized clinical and educational skills. The dental hygienist works as a co-therapist with the dentist in the prevention, recognition and treatment of dental and oral disease. The practicing dental hygienist may be expose to environmental hazards and infectious diseases including, but not limited to, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV (AIDS). Dental hygienist are obligated to provide patient care with compassion and respect for human dignity and the rights of privacy and confidentiality of patients with infectious diseases.

Nationwide, employment of Dental Hygienists is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2020.

Licensure Note: The Dental Hygiene Committee of California (DHCC) may deny licensure for crimes substantially related to the practice of dental hygiene. This includes convictions involving sex crimes, drug crimes (including DUI), and crimes of violence. It is the responsibility of the applicant to present sufficient evidence of rehabilitation to the DHCC prior to licensure application.

Program Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this program, the student will be able to:

  1. Discern and manage the ethical issues of dental hygiene practice in a rapidly changing health environment;
  2. advance the profession through active participation and affiliation with professional and community service, and display lifelong professional growth and development;
  3. initiate and assume responsibility for health promotion and disease prevention activities for diverse populations;
  4. formulate comprehensive dental hygiene care plans that are patient centered and based on current scientific evidence;
  5. provide treatment that includes preventive and therapeutic procedures to promote and maintain oral health and assist the patient in achieving oral health goals; and
  6. evaluate the effectiveness of patient treatment, patient education, planned clinical and community educational services and make necessary modifications.

Program Requirements:

The requirements for the Dental Hygiene (AS) program are:

  • Complete 100 units from
    • Dental Hygiene Prerequisites
    • Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Assoc. Requirements
    • Dental Hygiene Core Requirements

Dental Hygiene Prerequisites - complete 32.00 units
CourseDescriptionUnits
ANAT 1 General Human Anatomy5.00
Complete any combination totaling at least 4.00 units from the following:
ENGL 1A Reading & Composition4.00
ESL 10 ESL College Composition4.50
PHYSIO 1 Human Physiology5.00
Complete any combination totaling at least 3.00 units from the following:
MATH 101 Mathematics for the Associate Degree3.00
MATH 154 Elementary and Intermediate Algebra For Business and STEM8.00
MATH 155 Intermediate Algebra4.00
MATH 156 Intermediate Algebra for Business and STEM Majors5.00
MATH 161 Mathematics Preparation for Statistics and Liberal Arts4.00
Complete a combination totaling at least 5.00 units from the following:
CHEM 60
CHEM 3A and CHEM 3AL and CHEM 8		5.00
Complete any combination totaling at least 4.00 units from the following:
MICRO 5 General Microbiology5.00
MICRO 60 Fundamentals of Microbiology4.00
Complete any combination totaling at least 3.00 units from the following:
FDNT 10 Elementary Nutrition3.00
FDNT 62 Nutrition and Diet Therapy3.00
Complete any combination totaling at least 3.00 units from the following:
COMM 3 Introduction to Argumentation3.00
COMM 9 Critical Thinking and Argumentation3.00
ENGL 5 Advanced Composition and Critical Thinking3.00
PHIL 3 Critical Thinking3.00
PHIL 5 Critical Thinking/Writing3.00
 
Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Assoc. Requirements - complete 9.00 units
CourseDescriptionUnits
Complete any combination totaling at least 3.00 units from the following:
COMM 1 Introduction to Public Speaking3.00
COMM 5 Group Discussion and Problem Solving3.00
COMM 6 Interpersonal Communication3.00
COMM 7 Intercultural Communication3.00
COMM 60 Communication Skills3.00
Complete any combination totaling at least 3.00 units from the following:
PSYCH 1A General Psychology3.00
PSYCH 4 Child and Adolescent Psychology3.00
Complete a combination totaling at least 3.00 units from the following:
SOC 30
SOC 1 and CHLD 68
SOC 1 and COMM 7
SOC 1 and COUN 7
SOC 1 and HIST 21
SOC 1 and HUMAN 6
SOC 1 and PSYCH 34
SOC 1 and THAR 6		3.00
 
Dental Hygiene Core Requirements - complete 59.00 units
CourseDescriptionUnits
DE 50 Introduction to the Dental Profession2.00
DE 51 Occupational Health & Safety2.00
DE 55A Introduction to Dental Radiology 12.00
DE 55B Dental Radiology1.00
DH 68 Dental Hygiene-Electronic Patient Records0.50
DH 69 Medical Emergencies in Dental Practice1.00
DH 70 Dental Anatomy and Tooth Morphology2.50
DH 71A Clinical Dental Hygiene Care and Theory 15.00
DH 71B Clinical Dental Hygiene Care and Theory 25.00
DH 71C Clinical Dental Hygiene Care and Theory 32.00
DH 71D Clinical Dental Hygiene Care and Theory 47.00
DH 71E Clinical Dental Hygiene Care and Theory 57.00
DH 72 Oral Health Education2.00
DH 74 Head and Neck Anatomy, Histology and Embryology3.00
DH 75 Pharmacology for the Dental Hygienist2.00
DH 76 Dental Materials for the Dental Hygienist2.00
DH 78 Local Anesthesia/Nitrous Oxide Conscious Sedation1.00
DH 79 Periodontics for the Dental Hygienist2.00
DH 80 Oral Pathology for the Dental Hygienist2.00
DH 81 Community Dental Health2.00
DH 83 Ethics, Jurisprudence & Practice Mgmt for Dental Hygienist2.00
DH 85 Advanced Periodontal Dental Hygiene Care2.00
DH 86 Integration of Dental Hygiene and Dentistry2.00

Term Effective: Fall 2020

The requirements for this program of study are effective beginning the semester shown above. If you began working on this program before the effective semester, you may not be affected by the changes. Consult with the program contact person or the department chair to determine your eligibility to complete the program under previous requirements.

Previous Versions:

Dental Hygiene - effective Spring 2020
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2019
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2018
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2014
Dental Hygiene - effective Summer 2012
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2010
Dental Hygiene - effective Summer 2010
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2009
Dental Hygiene - effective Summer 2007
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2006
Dental Hygiene - effective Fall 2003

Program Requirements Notes:

All Dental Hygiene major prerequisites must be completed prior to entering the Dental Hygiene program

Associate Degree Requirements:

The major is one of several requirements students need to fulfill in order to be awarded the Associate Degree, the highest level of academic achievement recognized by Santa Rosa Junior College. Please note that all of the following requirements must be met in order for the degree to be conferred:

For all students admitted for the Fall 2009 term or any term thereafter, a grade of "C" or better, or "P" if the course is taken on a pass/no pass basis, is required for each course applied toward the major.

Course Prerequisites and Advisories:

Courses in a program of study may have prerequisites or advisories; that is, courses that must or should be completed before taking that course. Please check for prerequisites or advisories by clicking on the course numbers in the Program Requirements section.

It is important that students who are completing an Associate Degree and desire to transfer to a four-year institution meet with a counselor to plan their lower division coursework. While many majors at SRJC are intended to align with lower division major preparation required by California public universities, specific lower-division major requirements vary among individual campuses. See a counselor, visit the Transfer Center, and check Guides For Transfer in Specific Majors, and ASSIST to review transfer preparation guides for specific schools and majors.

Notes:

COMM 7 may be applied to 'Communication' as well as 'Cultural Diversity' requirement

All courses taken in conjunction with this program must be completed with a letter grade of 'C' or better.
Contact
Information		 Phone Email Website
(707) 527-4583
lfleckner@santarosa.edu
 Health Sciences