The Bachelor of Science Degree in Dental Hygiene will prepare dental hygiene professionals for enhanced roles and responsibilities within the emerging profession. The curriculum is designed with several areas of concentration to introduce students to the expanding role of dental hygienists in public health and within the educational system. The upper division courses offered through distance education are in leadership, education, public health administration, biostatistics, epidemiology and research.

This program allows AS and AAS Dental Hygiene graduates and currently practicing licensed dental hygienists the opportunity to pursue an advanced degree. The degree allows graduates the opportunity to build upon their current knowledge, enhance their current professional role and advance to broader careers through distance education to meet the public health and educational needs nation wide.

Graduates will be qualified for an array of challenging career opportunities in public health, administration, teaching, research, management and related fields.

This Dental Hygiene BS Degree Completion Program is completely online, and includes the following courses*:

Principles and methods of epidemiologic investigation and the use of classical statistical approaches to describe the oral health of populations.

The student will gain a fundamental and working knowledge of the scientific method employed in oral health research. They will perform a critical analysis of research utilizing scientific research and supporting evidence-based publications.

This course focuses on the theories, concepts, and principles of leadership. Emphasis will be on the development of leadership skills related to personal behavior, communication, organization, and self-examination. This course explores the opportunity to develop leadership roles appropriate to the dental hygiene profession.

Introduction to basic educational concepts of teaching health care professionals. Topics included are educational planning; course development and design; goals and learning objectives; and evaluation and measurement.

Provides students with knowledge and skills involved in laboratory and clinical instruction. Psychomotor skill development, analysis and remediation of performance problems are stressed. Includes lecture and clinical application of knowledge.

Emphasis will be placed on curriculum planning and implementation. Includes teaching philosophies and methodologies. Foundations of teaching such as principles of learning, learning styles and motivation, case-based learning, and using educational media and software.

The student will learn about the historical and evolutionary concepts of public health. Exploration of social responsibility and population characteristics. A basic knowledge of working with cultural diversity in public health settings.

The student will become aware/familiar with the infrastructure of administrative public health by discussing profile comparisons of the international, federal, state, and local public health entities. These discussions will address the public health paradigm on general policies, philosophies, and current public/community health issues. There will be an introduction to the process of evaluating community health settings and health care services, as well as, social responsibilities regarding professional ethics applicable to the ten essential public health services currently published. The impact of service learning and disparity of health care will be integrated throughout the content areas previously mentioned.

Review of the roles and responsibilities of the private practice dental hygienist as compared to those expected of the public health dental hygienist by engaging the student in supervised community health activities in oral health assessment needs, evaluation of current and future oral health interventions (both oral care and disease prevention) from the dental public health perspective. The student will have the opportunity to administer oral health care/prevention in a variety of settings, both outreach and in-house. Included will be involvement with community oral health policy development and program planning skills based on evidence-based practices to assure the best possible outcome.

This course will provide the student the opportunity to apply knowledge of chosen professional track to develop an action plan and implementing it though teaching, internship and observation, or work experience. This course will use on and off campus sites to develop the expanding role of the dental hygienist. This is the final course in the Bachelors program.

*Additional General Education requirements may need to be scheduled in addition to these classes*