Dental schools require incoming students to have successfully completed at least two years of college-level science education and pass the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). Many applicants already have a bachelor's degree in pre-dentistry, health sciences, biology or another science field. Students typically must complete biology, chemistry, physics, math, statistics, English and psychology course work before qualifying for dental programs. Dental hygiene schools, on the other hand, usually require students to have a high school diploma and certain scores on a college entrance exam, such as the SAT or ACT. Specific requirements vary between schools, but many programs recommend high school course work in biology, chemistry and math.
Students who successfully complete dental school receive a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. Some dental schools award the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degree, which is considered equivalent to the DDS. Most dental hygiene schools offer an associate degree in dental hygiene. While some schools offer bachelor's or master's degrees in dental hygiene, most private practices do not require hygienists to hold these higher degrees.
Dental schools usually take four years to complete, while associate programs in dental hygiene take two to three years. There is some overlap in the courses taken by students in dental and dental hygiene schools. Both curricula include study of anatomy, physiology, microbiology, histology, chemistry, periodontology, pathology and nutrition. Dental students spend additional time learning about dental technology, surgery techniques, administering anesthesia and other advanced topics. Both dental students and dental hygiene students receive supervised clinical instruction.
Successful completion of a dental hygiene program prepares you for a career as a dental hygienist. Hygienists examine patients' teeth and gums, remove plaque and other deposits, teach oral hygiene practices and perform preventive care procedures. In 2008, the median annual salary for dental hygienists was $66,570. A DDS or DMD degree qualifies you to work as a dentist. Many dentists work in private practice, although others work in education, research, government positions or public health. The median annual salary for dentists was $142,870 in 2008.