How long to be a dentist after becoming a dental hygienist?

2 Comments

1. thale says:

   April 12, 2010 at 5:10 am

   LONG ANSWER:
   It depends on the pre-requisite courses required by the dental schools you’re interested in and the courses you’ve already taken.
   Most dental schools require you to have: Inorganic Chem, Organic Chem, Biology, Physics, PLUS at least an Associates Degree (most prefer Bachelors). If you have NO pre-requisites completed for that particular school of interest, on average, you could complete them all in a year (full time). This is just an estimate based on average Dental School pre-requisite requirements. Depending on which classes you’ve already taken for your Hygiene degree, this could be shorter since some Hygiene programs actually require Chemistry, etc…
   NOW…You’ll need to attend Dental School for a full 4 years to become a dentist (Doctor of Dental Surgery/Medicine). There are some accelerated programs that are 3 years but they’re few and far between.

   SHORT ANSWER:
   3-4 years if you have all dental school pre-requisite courses completed.

   5-6 years if you haven’t completed all dental school pre-requisite courses.
2. Frosty-pants says:

   April 12, 2010 at 5:10 am

   Thanks for that answer, I needed some clarification as well. Since the job market is so poor for hygiene right now, I plan on going onto dental school right after I graduate in two semesters. I bet I’ll only be able to find part time at the very best. Honestly though, I’d rather be a dentist!