Rewarding, engaging, and challenging hands-on classroom and clinical experiences make Oregon Tech’s Dental Hygiene graduates highly prepared, highly paid, and in-demand.
Oregon Tech Offers:
With built-in opportunities to constantly stretch yourself, learn and grow, the Dental Hygiene Degree Program at Oregon Tech has a strong history of service learning and innovative educational methods that prepare students as dental hygienists, or as a stepping stone for advanced dental practice.
Extensive hands-on dental clinic experience right on-campus and opportunities for off-campus rotations provide students with high impact learning and practice of dental hygiene skills. Students work alongside licensed dental professionals in state-of-the-art facilities. Students treat their own patients using the latest technology:
- Digital radiography
- Laser cavity detection
- Oral cancer screening using light fluorescence
- Diode lasers for lesion disruption and periodontal therapy
- Electronic health records
Active involvement in planning and managing community oral health programs — such as designing and implementing oral health promotion programs for under-served communities – prepare Oregon Tech students with three terms of valuable, real-world experiences.
Oregon Tech students earn enough clinical hours to be a licensed dental hygienist with an Expanded Practice Permit when they graduate. Students can take elective courses, or even a Business Minor to help them pursue a career in independent practice utilizing their Expanded Practice Permit.
Graduates are prepared for entry into the dental profession, eligible for state, regional and national exams leading to licensure as a registered dental hygienist, and/or an expanded practice dental hygienist in Oregon. All clinical board exams are hosted on site, so students do not have to travel to complete their required board exams.
Multiple campus sites to give you options - Oregon Tech offers its Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene in two locations; at the Klamath Falls Residential Campus (southern Oregon); and in Salem in collaboration with Chemeketa Community College (45 miles south of Portland). Both locations prepare the students for entry into the dental hygiene profession, and have the same curriculum requirements and application process.
Degree Completion for Licensed Professionals - For those who have completed a dental hygiene degree at the associate degree level, Oregon Tech's Online Campus offers a completion degree option for those who want to return to school to earn a bachelor's degree.
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Outstanding Return on Investment!
Well Paid, Highly Satisfying Work
Dental hygienists are well paid for their work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2018:
- Average salaries for dental hygienists in Oregon was $85,280.
- Average salaries for dental hygienists in the Medford area was $87,230 and $86,800 in the Bend-Redmond area.
- In Washington, dental hygienists earn an average of $90,690, in California $100,830, and in Idaho $74,430.
The top 25 percent of earners in Oregon in 2018 made annual salaries at or above $96,130, and the top 10 percent made annual salaries at or above $102,130.
Our Graduates Work For:
Featured Courses
An Oregon Tech degree in dental hygiene brings highly successful, rewarding careers that begin in the classroom. You'll get the experience and education to participate as a student hygienist at the on-campus Oregon Tech Dental Hygiene Clinic on real patients.
The Dental Hygiene curriculum is rigorous and requires many hours of laboratory and clinical work in addition to external study time in order to nurture both the knowledge and skills acquired to become a dental hygienist. Examples include:
Oral Radiology I
A two course series that include didactic and pre-clinical instruction in the principles and techniques of dental radiology.
Dental Ethics
Professional ethics, decision making, and legal requirements of the dental profession.
Head and Neck Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology
Lecture and lab course that provides an in-depth study of head and neck anatomy, histology, and embryology for the dental professional.
Dental Hygiene Clinical Practice and Seminar
Nine sequential courses designed to provide clinical skills essential for practice of dental hygiene, skill development of patient assessment, basic instrumentation, and individualized preventive care are emphasized.