Dental Hygiene

Dental Hygiene Program

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, offers a Bachelor of Science Degree in Dental Hygiene. This program is fully accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation.

The UT dental hygiene program prepares students through didactic, laboratory, and clinical experience to function as licensed dental hygienists.

The UT dental hygiene program is a 2 plus 2 program:

• 2 years prerequisite Admissions
• 2 years at the UT Health Science Center in Memphis

Curriculum

Education in a Health Science Center

The patients seen by dental hygiene students in the dental hygiene clinics are registered patients of the College of Dentistry who are receiving limited or comprehensive dental care through the under-graduate and graduate dental education programs. These patients are recruited from the city of Memphis and the surrounding tri-state area with a composite population of well over one million. The program maintains the College of Dentistry’s primary patient recall system and provides regular ongoing preventative maintenance care in the dental hygiene clinic to a patient base of over 2,700. In addition to the dental hygiene clinic, students have scheduled clinical rotations to provide preventative services to patients seen in dental specialty clinics. Approximately 61% of all student dental hygiene clinical experiences are provided in UT clinics.

Nicotine Dependence Program

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center Department of Dental Hygiene, in conjunction with the UT College of Dentistry, is one of the first dental hygiene programs to have a nicotine dependence program. This program, funded by GlaxoWellcome, provides a low cost program for tobacco users who would like to quit. This treatment program is located in the Dunn Dental Building at 875 Union Avenue, Memphis, TN.

If you would like to quit smoking or dipping, contact:

Dr. Nancy Williams njwilliams@utmem.edu
Dr. Marjorie Woods mwoods@utmem.edu

Goals

• Prepare a qualified dental hygienist who will be competent with respect to “Competencies for the Dental Hygienist”.
• Satisfy patients with the quality of student dental hygiene care.
• The program will participate in community service initiatives.
• The program will maintain admissions policies to ensure qualified students, with appropriate emphasis on under-represented groups.
• The program will increase departmental income from external sources.
• The program will maintain a knowledgeable, productive, and diverse faculty.

The campus is part of the largest health science center in the Mid-South, providing great potential for access to diverse population groups. Formal agreements have been reached between the university and two local clinics for student clinical rotations outside the program’s primary on campus teaching clinic. Specific learning objectives and experiences have been identified for such rotations. The Church Health Center is an urban clinic serving the working poor where the dental hygiene students are scheduled to provide comprehensive examination, full mouth radiographs, and scaling and root planning. The U.S. Navy base in Millington provides dental services for enlisted men and women and their dependents. Here dental hygiene students have an opportunity to apply sealants, expose full mouth radiographs and perform prophylactic procedures.

Infection Control Policy

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