Chabot College Dental Hygiene Program: A Comprehensive Overview
The Chabot College Dental Hygiene Program is a comprehensive, full-time program designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful career as a dental hygienist. This article provides a detailed overview of the program, covering various aspects from admission requirements and curriculum to job outlook and work conditions.
Program Structure and Duration
The Dental Hygiene program at Chabot College is a full-time, two-year commitment. The academic year typically commences in mid-August and concludes around the end of May. A mandatory orientation course is held in late July or early August, providing students with essential information regarding scheduling, course requirements, financial aid, program policies, and core competencies.
Admission and Selection Process
Chabot College does not employ a lottery system for student selection into the Dental Hygiene program. Admission is based on a competitive evaluation of applicants' qualifications and academic performance in prerequisite courses.
Curriculum Overview
The curriculum is designed to provide a strong foundation in both theoretical knowledge and clinical skills. Courses cover a wide range of topics, including:
- Introduction to Dental Hygiene: This course introduces the practice and profession of dental hygiene, emphasizing communication skills, dental terminology, and patient education. It includes an overview of head and neck examination, prevention of oral disease, and infection control.
- Oral Pathology: Focuses on oral pathology and dysfunctions of body systems that directly affect the oral cavity. The course covers the significance of oral and general pathology in relation to treatment by the dental hygienist, as well as the relationship of oral and general pathology to the disease process.
- Periodontology: Explores the normal periodontium and deviations from health, emphasizing the hygienist’s responsibility in examination, data collection, and recognition of disease.
- Periodontal Therapy: Focuses on dental hygiene therapy for periodontal disease prevention, active case management, and maintenance programs. Contributing factors to the disease process and case management are also covered. DHYG52B is a continuation of DHYG52A.
- Advanced Periodontal Therapy: This research-based course emphasizes systemic diseases and their relationship to periodontal disease, as well as adjunct periodontal treatment modalities through the use of evidence-based research and case studies.
- Pharmacology: Covers sources, dosages, therapeutic action, and side effects of drugs used in dentistry and dental hygiene, including legal and ethical aspects of drug usage.
- Dental Materials: Explores general, specialty, preventive, and restorative materials, focusing on components, properties, classification, and manipulation of specific materials. Lab activities are designed to prepare students for the use of materials within the dental setting.
- Community Oral Health: DHYG 56A introduces concepts related to the study of community oral health. Students will be introduced to Healthy People 2020 and those populations which experience greater levels of disease. Discussions will also include dental indices used in biostatistics, and related research methodologies. Additional factors include understanding concepts related to health inequities, and the role of the dental hygienist in increasing access to oral health care.
- Community Dental Health: A continuation of Dental Hygiene 56A, this course emphasizes the role of the dental hygienist in health promotion and health communication. The focus is on the implementation and evaluation of a community health project, epidemiology, research, and social responsibility.
- Advanced Clinical Functions: Covers dental hygiene advanced clinical functions including clinical practice in administration of local anesthetics, topical anesthetic agents, nitrous oxide/oxygen analgesia, and soft tissue curettage.
- Dental Office Practices: Focuses on dental office practices based on sound dental economics, the legal and ethical framework of the State Dental Practice Act, and patient needs and services.
- Head and Neck Anatomy: Explores the development and anatomical structures of the head and neck, oral cavity, and dentition. Tooth identification, including tooth anatomy, eruption patterns, tooth numbering systems, anomalies, and occlusion, is also covered. Restorative considerations and classifications are discussed.
- Oral Anatomy: Supplemental instruction on the embryology of the head, neck and oral cavity, structure and function of the oral cavity and adjacent structures. Emphasis on the recognition of normal structures, the anatomical relationships between structures and regional osteology. Anatomy of the head, neck and oral cavity, including anatomical nomenclature. Emphasis on structure and function of the oral cavity with a focus on normal anatomy and their structures. Identification of landmarks, including musculature, skeletal system, nervous system and vasculature, related to the administration of local anesthesia. Source and spread of dental infection in relation to the fascial spaces the lymphatic system.
- Oral Health Education: Educational techniques and technical skills used to assist individuals and groups in becoming integrally involved in their dental/oral health care. Information and application of information related to oral health care, oral health promotion and disease prevention. Compare and contrast the design characteristics of contemporary manual toothbrush models on the marketdemonstrate on a typodont different manual tooth brushing techniques (i.e.
- Dental Hygiene Care: Continued development of the principles of assessment in dental hygiene care. Prevention, non-surgical periodontal therapy and maintenance through application of the Dental Hygiene process, including assessment, planning, goal setting, implementing and evaluation used in providing dental hygiene care. Emphasis on evaluation of dental hygiene care as an essential component of the dental hygiene process.
- Instrumentation: Supplemental instruction in the use of dental hygiene instruments. Emphasis on instrumentation techniques including the use of fulcrum options, modified pen grasp, and direct and indirect vision.
- Clinical Practice: Laboratory and clinical experiences in patient assessment, dental hygiene care planning, goal setting and implementation of instrumentation techniques for providing prevention- oriented dental care and non-surgical periodontal therapy. Emphasis on post-treatment evaluation. Application of theory to the treatment of clinical patients. Continuation of laboratory and clinical experiences in patient assessment with emphasis on dental hygiene care planning, goal setting and implementation of instrumentation techniques for providing prevention-oriented dental care and non-surgical periodontal therapy. Emphasis on post-treatment evaluation.
- Advanced Clinical Skills: Introduction to the technical skills and procedures used in the clinical practice of dental hygiene. Lecture experiences in advanced instrumentation techniques; workshops on recognizing patients? Implementation of problem solving techniques, through the formulation of a research question, implementation of basic research methods, and presentation of findings. Providing patient education through evidence based finding. Development of a written critical review of an oral health based topic. Identification of effective environments and strategies for learning.
- Radiography: Introduction to principles of radiography, radiation safety, operation of x-ray equipment, infection control procedures and hazardous waste maintenance.
- Medical Emergencies: Prevention, recognition and management of medical emergencies that occur in the dental setting. Utilization of patient interview, vitals and thorough review of medical history to identify patients with pre-existing conditions/risk levels. Discussion of protocols to reduce patient risk for medical emergency.
- Advanced Clinical Topics: Advanced clinical topics with discussion in patient management, ergonomics, clinical boards, licensure, employment, lasers in dentistry and insurance CDT codes. This course includes guest speakers on various topics and preparation for the work industry. The focus of this course are patient care competencies in providing dental hygiene care for the child, adolescent, adult and geriatric patient. Students will assess the treatment needs of patients and modify procedures as needed in order to provide effective dental hygiene treatment. Continuation of clinical experience with a variety of clinical cases of adults and children to include a broad spectrum of clinical applications. Discussion and analysis of case-based clinical situations. Case studies addressing client care, protocol and advanced clinical techniques. Discussion and analysis of complex case-based clinical situations. Ethical, legal decision making, occupational standards and incident reporting in the clinical setting. Review of materials pertaining to the National Dental Hygiene Board and the Clinical State Licensing exams.
- Special Needs Patients: Dental Hygiene therapy with emphasis on the management of patients with special needs.
- National Board Dental Hygiene Exam Preparation: Orientation for second year dental hygiene students. This course will prepare students for the National Board Dental Hygiene Exam through computerized testing with case based and didactic questions.
- Patient Management and Scheduling: Orientation for second year dental hygiene students focusing on patient management and scheduling. Treatment of periodontal patients is also addressed, with emphasis on dental hygiene treatment including adjunct therapy considerations.
Clinical Rotations and Expectations
The program includes rotations that students are expected to complete outside of class time.
Read also: Your Guide to Concurrent Enrollment
Support System
The Dental Hygiene program fosters a supportive environment. The best support system is your fellow classmates, because classes work as a team. The upper-year class also provides support to the first-year class, given their understanding of the program's demands.
Prior Dental Experience
Prior dental experience is not a prerequisite for admission. While it can be beneficial in courses such as dental radiography or dental anatomy, many students enter the program with little to no prior experience.
Housing
Chabot College does not offer on-campus housing options such as dormitories.
Job Outlook and Work Conditions
The job outlook for dental hygienists is excellent. Employment opportunities are typically abundant, with various options available depending on the type of employment and the employer's specialty. Compensation can be structured as an hourly wage, salary, commission, or a combination thereof.
Dental hygienists work in diverse settings, including private dental offices, public health clinics, and dental corporations.
Read also: Logging into Chabot College Canvas
Read also: A Guide to Chabot's Unique Programs
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