Dental Hygiene

The Dental Hygiene program provides students with the knowledge and skills to assess, plan, implement and evaluate dental hygiene care for the individual and the community. Students will learn to prepare the operatory, take patient histories, note abnormalities, plan care, teach oral hygiene, clean teeth, take X-rays, apply preventive agents, complete necessary chart entries and perform other procedures related to dental hygiene care.

Program graduates may be eligible to take national and state/regional examinations for licensure, which are required to practice dental hygiene. Employment opportunities include dental offices, clinics, schools, public health agencies, industry and professional education.

The Dental Hygiene program is a limited-enrollment program accepting approximately 24 students once a year. The acceptance rate can vary based on clinical space availability. Because we receive more than 100 applications for every application cycle, we use a competitive, point-based admission process, not a waiting list. Points are assigned based on the grades earned in the eight general education classes required for the program, such as ENG-111, PSY-150 and BIO-163. The better the grade, the more points a student will be awarded. Still, there is no guarantee of acceptance into the program, even if you have straight A's in all eight general education classes.

The program has revised its competitive admissions process:

• Points earned for the eight courses in our curriculum that are not DEN courses that can be completed ahead of program admission have been reduced.
• Points will be awarded for dental assistants who have graduated from a American Dental Association, Commission on Dental Accreditation (ADA, CODA) program or are a Certified Dental Assistant.  Zero points will be awarded for non-accredited dental assisting programs.
• Points will be awarded for certification/graduation from select allied health disciplines.
• Points will be awarded based on scores earned by taking the Admissions Test for Dental Hygiene administered by the American Dental Association.
• Points will be awarded for attending Wake Tech's Dental Assisting and Dental Hygiene Boot Camp
• Points will be awarded for completing a new continuing education course offered through Wake Tech Career Services – HRD-3004CR2 Career Exploration in Dental Hygiene. (The course was previously listed in the Workforce Continuing Education catalog as DEN-3020.)

All admissions requirements, including the minimum criteria and the competitive admissions process, are outlined in the admissions packet.

Anyone interested in the Dental Hygiene program must first attend a mandatory information session. Advisors will not meet with students until after the information session has been completed. Because the Dental Hygiene program is very competitive, we strongly recommend meeting with a Health Sciences admissions/academic advisor to discuss an academic plan.

NOTE: Administration of local anesthesia by dental hygienists is now a legally allowable function in North Carolina, so students will need to be comfortable with needles and providing injections to complete the curriculum.

Health Sciences Advising
[email protected]

Admissions questions
919-866-5420
[email protected]

Ready to get started at Wake Tech? Follow these steps to begin:

• Apply to Wake Tech
• Submit official transcripts to [email protected]
• Complete the Dental Hygiene information session
• Apply for financial aid and veterans benefits, if applicable
• Once admitted, follow the steps to enroll on the New Student Checklist

The following are requirements for the Dental Hygiene program selection process:

• Meet minimum admission requirements, which includes completion of ENG-111 and CHM-130 (or equivalent)
• Complete 20 hours of job shadowing and verify that on the Dental Hygiene Job Shadowing form. Job shadowing hours need to be unpaid, so if you are working at a dental office, we suggest you shadow at a different office.
• Submit the Dental Hygiene program application and all supporting documentation to [email protected] between August 1 and January 31.

As noted, acceptance into the Dental Hygiene program is highly competitive, so applying to the program does not guarantee acceptance. If applicants have equal point totals, the applicant with the highest score on the Admission Test for Dental Hygiene (ATDH) Perceptual Ability Score will be selected. If a tie still exists, the highest ATDH Quantitative Reasoning Score will be utilized, and finally, the ATDH Overall Score will be used to break any ties.

Students who were released from the Wake Tech Dental Hygiene program and wish to restart or students who wish to transfer into the program from another American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation program must apply following the normal admissions protocol, but they also need to comply with the Restart/Transfer Student protocol.

ATTENTION: Students who are not U.S. citizens or do not have resident status cannot be licensed in North Carolina. If you are on an F-1 visa or are in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, please consider carefully before applying whether to invest your time and money in the program knowing that you will not be able to work in North Carolina. You might be able to be licensed in another state, but you would have to check with the licensing board in that particular state.

Once accepted into the program, students are required to attend a departmental orientation and complete all clinical site requirements. Failure to attend the scheduled orientation will result in forfeiture of the seat.

Orientation will review the following:

• Establishing a CastleBranch account to upload documents for review
• Signing and uploading the Dental Hygiene Department Technical Standards to CastleBranch
• Registration and payment for a criminal background check
• Submission of a completed Wake Tech physical examination form
• Immunization requirements
• American Heart Association CPR certification (Healthcare Provider course)
• Program costs, purchase of instruments and uniforms, textbooks, etc.
• Other information pertinent to beginning the program (schedules, clinic basics, student club, etc.)

Failure to meet deadlines provided at orientation for uploading documentation to CastleBranch may result in forfeiture of the seat.

If you have questions pertaining to CastleBranch or the criminal background check process, contact Clinical Compliance Administrator/Test Administrator Barbara Smith at 919-747-0105 or [email protected].