Dental Hygiene

You like to work with your hands. You have great fine motor skills. You are meticulous. You don’t shy away from a challenge. You’re not afraid of hard work. You love to learn, practice and study. You take care of your teeth and body. You practice what you preach and empower others to do the same.

If this describes you, then the Associate of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene at Owens Community College may be the career path for you. Our faculty members are prepared and willing to help you begin a successful career as a dental hygienist.

About the Program

As a Dental Hygiene major at Owens, you will spend much of your time assessing health of the oral cavity, practicing dental instrumentation, and providing dental hygiene care to clinic patients. You will develop a dental hygiene care plan for your patient and create community dental health programs.

Key aspects of the program are educating dental patients and community people about proper dental care, discuss the decay and periodontal disease process, and discuss how nutrition affects oral health, the oral/systemic link, and behavior change.

You will learn about anatomy and physiology, microbiology and organic/inorganic chemistry, assessments for a dental patient, community dental health and intervention strategies, and a multitude of dental hygiene strategies specific for your patient, as well as how to apply this knowledge in your own practice.

Ultimately, the dental hygiene degree will provide a strong education that is easily transferrable to other colleges and universities to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Contact Us

Administration	Location	Phone	Email
Elizabeth Tronolone Chair	Health Technologies 223	(567) 661-7374	elizabeth_tronolone@owens.edu
Susan Nichols Full-time faculty	Health Technologies 221	(567) 661-7258	susan_nichols@owens.edu
Nicole Buchanan Full-time faculty	Bicentennial Hall 265	(567) 661-7580	nicole_buchanan@owens.edu
Catherine Ford Dean	Health Technologies 121B	(567) 661-7398	catherine_ford@owens.edu