How do you become a dental hygienist?

How to become a pediatric dental hygienist?

• im only a sophomore in high school, but I'm interested in become a pediatric dental hygienist. what classes should I take in high school to prepare for school? How long do you ...show more

• Answer:

  A typical dental hygiene program takes 2-3 years to earn an associate (two-year) degree. The reason why it may take more than two years for the associate's is due to the coursework being especially challenging and heavy in the sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, microbiology, college "general" anatomy & physiology). Other more technical courses for DH include "head and neck anatomy", pathology and clinical procedures. There doesn't seem to be too many dentists who specialize in pediatrics, but I'm presuming that a person must attend a "general" DH program and perhaps benefit from taking "continuing education" courses for pediatrics (and/or patients with "special needs"). Please make sure that the DH program is accredited by the "American dental association" (ADA). To search for accredited programs in DH: http://ada.org/5500.aspx With regard to schooling (for any field), please do *avoid* those private For-profit schools, such as devry, ITT tech, strayer, university of phoenix, capella, brown Mackie, ashworth, keiser, art institute, penn foster, ecpi, Sanford brown, argosy, concorde career and others. Their course credits usually do ** NOT ** transfer to other schools, even if the for-profit school is regionally accredited as opposed to only nationally accredited.