New IVCC dental hygiene program accepting applications

Illinois Valley Community College’s new dental hygiene program is accepting applications this spring for its first class that begins this fall.

IVCC already offers dental assisting, and the addition of dental hygiene will boost the Illinois Valley’s dental health services in several ways. It will mean local students can finish both certificate and degree programs here and qualify for better-paying jobs, supply the region’s dental practices with additional trained professionals, and enable the college to expand free and low-cost dental care.

“Employment of dental hygienists is projected to grow in the next 10 years faster than the average of all occupations,” Dean of Health Professions Heather Seghi said. “Our area is in desperate need of both dental assistants and dental hygienists. Since our program prepares both, it should fulfill the need in our area well.”

Dental assistants assist the dentist in preventative, restorative, and surgical procedures, complete lab work, perform instrument sterilization, electronic dental record-keeping, digital radiography and can perform office administrator duties. Dental hygienists have wider responsibilities, including patient assessment, treatment and prevention of oral diseases, and community oral health program planning. They work in a wide variety of settings, including general dentistry or periodontal offices, public health clinics, pediatric offices, and hospital clinic settings, among others.

Applicants preparing to enroll in IVCC’s Dental Hygiene program must have completed an accredited Dental Assisting program here or at another college. “I would anticipate that most, if not all, students that apply will have been graduates of our program at one time or another,” Seghi said.

IVCC’s program offers a career laddering option, one of two community colleges in the state to do so. After completing a Dental Assisting Certificate, students can work in the field while earning an Associate in Applied Science degree in Dental Hygiene. The dental assisting program can be completed in three semesters and the dental hygiene curriculum can be completed in an additional four semesters.

Adding dental hygiene means the college’s free and low-cost dental clinic, now scheduled every spring, can be open over three semesters to provide more people with affordable dental care, Seghi said. “That will help improve the overall oral health of our community while giving our students an amazing opportunity to hone their skills before joining the workforce in either dental assisting or dental hygiene.”

The program will mean staffing changes but no facility changes, at least for now. Seghi said the program will seek a supervising dentist and registered dental hygienist who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree to join the team of instructors welcoming the incoming fall class. They’ll join two full-time and five part-time dental faculty. Both clinical segments will operate from the two-year-old Dental Health Center in the Gym building.

An announcement this month that IVCC’s program was granted Initial Accreditation status by the Commission on Dental Accreditation set the launch in motion this spring, Seghi said. The announcement capped three years of development by dental program faculty and advisers.

“One of our amazing adjunct faculty members, Katie Henkel, started this process for us before she moved into elementary education and our current Program Coordinator Lyndsey Beetz finished it. We are very fortunate to have the support of our faculty, administrators, community member and dentists as we would not have gotten this far without them!” Seghi said.

Applications are being accepted until May 1, 2024. For more information on the program and its requirements, visit www.ivcc.edu/dentalhygiene . To apply, visit www.ivcc.edu/apply.