At least 3-4 years.
There is usually one year of core classes, English, Math, Science, Anatomy & Physiology, and other courses.
After that, one must apply to and be accepted to a Dental Hygiene Program.
Qualification usually involves taking and submitting a placement test & having excellent grades because the competition for schools can be fierce!
Most schools accept a limited number of students once per year. For example, my school accepts 18 students once per year.* And that’s it!
If you are accepted right away, an associate degree dental hygiene program takes two years to complete, including bookwork and clinical practice. A bachelor’s degree will take 1-2 more years. But there is a possibility that you may not be accepted right away and then you may have to wait a whole year before you can reapply. This can obviously cause delays in the timeline.
*A little anecdote: I was the 19 student in my dental hygiene program. It’s the only time before or since that the school has allowed 19 students. They made an exception for me. Here’s why: I took the placement test and made an excellent score on it. My grades were excellent, but I was initially not accepted to the program. I didn’t realize this until I called the school one day, the week before the program started (weeks after all the 18 students had been chosen). When the nice lady on the phone told me that I had not been accepted, I asked why. She told me that it was because I had not taken the placement test. I assured her that I had, and she asked if I could fax a copy of it, which I happened to have in my hand and is what jogged my memory to call the school to check on things. I faxed her the copy, and she said she would need to call me back. About an hour later, she called me back and told me that I would be accepted, but I would be the 19 students because I scored higher on the placement test than any of the other girls who had already been accepted, so they were obligated to let me in!
