Dentist is not the only career which you can take if you are interested in dental world. You can find other jobs related to dental field like dental hygienist. As basic information, dental hygienists are licensed dental assistants. They have the jobs to make sure that every patient maintains outstanding oral care. There are some tasks which you must do when you are working as dental hygienists. Those are including collecting patient history, making examination on tooth and gums, removing plaque from teeth, and helping the administration process for anesthesia. Before you are able to become a dental hygienist, you need to take formal education on related field. This formal education is available in dental hygiene school. There are some prerequisites for dental hygiene school which you should meet to be accepted.
The first thing in prerequisite for dental hygiene school is age. An applicant for dental hygiene school must be at least 18 years old. It is also necessary for the applicant to have high school diploma or GED equivalent. Dental hygiene school candidate should earn high school diploma or GED equivalent. This is important aspect for your admission to be considered by the school. For students who are planning to continue their education in dental hygiene school, they are recommended to take courses including Chemistry, English, Biology, and Math. It is better for you to take early preparation for your education program by keeping good grades while in school. Dental hygiene schools only accept the applicants who have C average or higher GPA. It is approximately 2.5 on 4.0 scales.
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Students who have the plan to be entry level dental hygienist must enroll in associate degree program which is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation. You can find the program at the community and technical colleges. The students need to complete the program for about two years. Another thing in prerequisites for dental hygiene school is high-school transcripts, proof of one year college, and college entrance exam scores. Before joining any associate degree program, you should know that associate degree programs have specific course prerequisites for the students who plan to join the programs.
If you are planning to teach, research, or get clinical practice position in the dental hygiene area, they need to get Bachelor Degree on dental hygiene program. The programs must be accredited by the CDA. You might need four years to complete the program. Most health care programs like dental hygiene want the indication before admitting you that you are working well with people and study hard. It will be more beneficial for you to get experience in dental practice or recommendations from community leaders or teacher. It might not be included to the prerequisites for dental hygiene school but it will add good points for you.