School of Dentistry

Program in Dental Hygiene

Department of Comprehensive Dentistry

The LSUHSC School of Dentistry (LSUSD) offers a bachelor of science in dental hygiene. The philosophy of the dental hygiene program is to educate dental hygiene students to provide comprehensive, current and quality-based care to all segments of the population. The program continually strives to maintain an environment in which students can acquire knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, and become responsible, ethical professionals who value lifelong learning.

The specific goals of the dental hygiene program are the following:

1. Prepare students to be competent as defined by the program document, "Competencies for the LSUSD dental hygiene graduate."
   
   
2. Maintain admissions policies to ensure qualified candidates.
   
   
3. Utilize current educational methodologies and information to ensure an educationally sound curriculum.
   
   
4. Provide quality individualized patient-centered dental hygiene care.
   
   
5. Review the curriculum to ensure it is relevant and current.
   
   
6. Educate students to successfully complete the national board and clinical licensure examinations.
   
   
7. Design experiences for students to provide dental hygiene services to all populations within the community.
   
   
8. Encourage student and faculty participation in professional association activities.
   
   
9. Engage students and faculty in scholarly activities.
   
   

The dental hygiene program is an integral part of the dental school, preparing both dental hygiene and dental students for inter- and intra-professional patient care.  Dental hygiene and dental students experience some classwork together and collaborate with each other on the care of their shared patients via mini-clinics.  Here they learn to respect the contributions both professions make to the team concept of dental treatment.

View rosters of full-time, part-time, and gratis faculty in the Program in Dental Hygiene.