Monday, October 30, 2006
USI will offer first dental hygiene baccalaureate program in Indiana
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Beginning in fall 2007, USI will offer a Bachelor of Science degree in dental hygiene, the first such degree in the state. The University has offered a three-year associate degree in dental hygiene since 1971. Deborah Carl has been program director of dental hygiene since 1978. “Research has shown a strong link between systemic and oral health,” she said. “The hygienist’s role is working with patients to prevent oral infection. We have learned that infection in the mouth can lead to cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease, makes control of diabetes more difficult, and is linked to pre-term births and low-birth-weight infants. It’s important that people have an understanding of this very strong link. Our students have an expanded body of knowledge with which they have to become familiar.” The current program typically receives 120 to 150 applications per year. Twenty-four students are selected for each year in the two-year professional program on the basis of academic performance in the first-year prerequisite core and science courses. The bachelor’s degree program will require two years of prerequisites before a student is eligible for admission into the program. “These students have to be strong academically to be competitive in the admission process,” Carl said. “Coming in, students in the four-year program will have a stronger research and science background, and we can elevate the courses within the curriculum to a higher level in terms of the content being taught.” The last associate degree class was admitted in fall 2005. The University will continue to offer a degree completion option for those with the associate’s degree to complete a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene education. The dental hygiene profession in general is developing an advanced dental hygiene practitioner model at the master’s level based on the nurse practitioner model. Carl said, “Our four-year students will be more prepared to move into those programs.” |
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