Being part of a dental school and on a health sciences campus offers some unique and exciting academic and clinical opportunities not available at other campus settings. Dental hygiene students at OU receive quality instruction not only from excellent dental hygiene faculty, but also from the faculty of the College of Dentistry, some of whom are nationally and internationally recognized as experts in their fields. The curriculum is composed of two years of prerequisite coursework with the junior and senior years completed once a student is accepted into the program. The OU program is the only baccalauerate degree program in Oklahoma. A minimum of 60 semester hours are required from an accreditated college or university with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.
Prerequisite coursework is accepted only with a grade of C or better.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected that employment in the profession of dental hygiene will grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the end of the decade. Dental Hygiene should continue to be in the top 10 growth disciplines in the health care professions through at least the year 2005. There are still several areas of the United States that are currently reporting shortages of dental hygienists. Although there are opportunities for dental hygiene practice in other practice settings, the majority of dental hygienists are employed within general dental practices. The dental hygiene field has a great deal of stability, the average length of employment for a hygienist working in the same practice is 5.5 years.