Do the classes of human anotomy and genetics have anything to do with wanting to be a dental hygienist?

i want to be a dental hygienist. im a junior in high school and i dont know what classes i should take that helps me prepare for that career. my guidance counselor said maybe human anotomy and genetics, but a couple friends told me human anotomy has nothing to do with teeth. i havent heard about genetics.


does it matter if the class seems to have nothing to do with dental hygiene?


should i take those classes next year?


or what classes are good to take if im interested in dental hygiene?

Do the classes of human anotomy and genetics have anything to do with wanting to be a dental hygienist?
You must take Human Anatomy and Physiology, and this is why: a dental hygienist has a lot more to worry about than teeth or gums. The human head is really, really complex. You need to know what is around the gums and teeth, which are bones, nerves, skin, blood vessels, lymph vessels, bone structure, and how they all connect and function together. Many hygienists have been sued for horribly ruining their patients lives when they accidently cut a nerve and the patient now can't close their jaws shut...forever. It's a horrible thing to not know enough about the human anatomy/physiology to make this kind of mistake. Sorry, but your friends are wrong. You need to really know a lot more than just teeth to practice dentistry. A lot of genetic and hormonal backgrounds also affect the patient. The patient is a living, human being with a full family health history. Anyone in the health field is better off the more they know, because humans are a complex package of health problems. What if your patient has a genetic bleeding problem (e.g. hemophilia)? Would you go ahead and poke around inside their mouth? No, you'd need special drugs to give them so that they don't bleed to death in your office.


Human anatomy has a TON to do with teeth. Did you know that a tooth has more than twenty parts with different names? If your superivising dentist told you as a dental hygienist to clean a particular part, would you know the anatomy to do that? Anatomy is a MUST. What part of the tooth is the cap? How does the nerve fit into the tooth? How porous is the bone underneath the gums anchoring the tooth? What happens when the gums recede, what structures can the hygienist look at to diagnose the problem and help the patient? Do you look into the mouth and see bumps in it? What are they? Are they good or bad? I can't emphasize how important anatomy is. The mouth is a giant 3D structure, you absolutely must know everything about it and what else the patient has in their body that can affect the mouth.


Knowing anatomy is the first step to finding how things work, and that means later you can begin to recognize what isi abnormal or wrong with the anatomy. That is the first step to finding out the problem: wound? infection? chronic disease? Too much bleeding?


Shadowing a local dentist and dental hygienist or interviewing them (take 'em out for coffee) would be helpful, if this is what you want to do. Ask a ton of questions.
Reply:I'm a dentist.





Your friend is a moron, and your guidance counselor is dead-on. You will take human anatomy in hygiene school (at least, head and neck anatomy).





Admittedly, the scope of a hygienist's job doesn't require much knowledge of anatomy--at least beyond the anatomy of the teeth and gums. Nonetheless, you'll learn about it.





Genetics...that's a tough one. We dentists don't have much use for it either.
Reply:Anatomy, chemistry, and human biology will be the most helpful. Even just general biologic sciences courses are good. In hygiene school you will be required to take these (and more) in greater detail. Having some exposure will help make it easier for you. Asking to shadow a hygienist is a great idea. It is usually a requirement upon acceptance to a hygiene school anyway.