Want to become a dental hygienist....?

I'm a senior in high school in VA. I decided I want to become a dental hygienist. I found a college in NC that is actually closer than Virginia Western Community College, the college I decided to apply to first. In the program for the one in NC (Wayne Community College) it says everyone will take the board examinations for licensing at the end. Could I still go here if I wanted to be licensed in VA? Would I just not take the tests with everyone else and instead take the VA ones? Also, my dad happened to find out that he works with the son of someone who may be involved in the application reviewing process at Virginia Western, and got his phone #. He keeps telling me I need to call him and ask questions or something just incase it would help me, but I have no idea what I'd say. Suggestions?

Want to become a dental hygienist....?
All good questions you've asked. For the exam, it's a national exam, so you could practice in any state. It may be wise to go with the program close to home.





If you want to work in a dental office without a license, you can only do so as the receptionist.
Reply:There is most likely a state board to regulate the work of dental hygienists. I would check with both state boards as to what the certification requirements are to work as a DH. Just a word to the wise that the DH course is supposed to be quite rigorous with a lot of courses in the sciences including the head and neck and, in some states, the DH can actually administer some type of anesthesia (just sounds daunting to me ;) under the supervision of a licensed dentist. I'd thought about that career at one time though I'm a little too obsessive-compulsive to deal with bodily fluids, ie. blood, saliva :) I'd also looked at some dental books with people that had some challenging cases of dental disease and/or injuries to the mouth and realized that it was just not for me.





You are very fortunate to be able to major in the field and should do well.





For more career info: http://www.bls.gov/oco and search 'dental hygienist' or such. There should be other resources listed at the bottom of the entry.





For other info: http://www.ada.org and search 'careers in dentistry'.





For US colleges: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ