A degree in dental hygiene prepares you to work in a dentist's office without completing a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. It is a bachelor program that generally requires prerequisites from both high school and college. For example, in the dental school at USC, students must have completed at least three years of high school math in addition to general education courses at USC. Prerequisites like these may include courses in anatomy, chemistry, nutrition and microbiology.
Entering a DDS degree program requires the completion of more prerequisites. For example, at the UCLA School of Dentistry, applicants must have already completed at least three years of coursework, including courses with one year of a laboratory component. Classes with laboratory components may include biology and organic chemistry. Prospective students must also have taken the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), a 5-hour exam that includes sections on natural sciences and quantitative reasoning.
Those who have earned their DDS degree or an equivalent dental science degree may wish to pursue a postgraduate specialty like pediatric dentistry, endodontics or periodontology. When this is the case, more requirements must be met for admission into a program. For example, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Dentistry, applicants must have earned their DDS degree and passed their national board examinations.
Certain California schools have varying requirements for admission that are not necessarily universal. For example, at the UCSF School of Dentistry, students for whom English is not their first language may be required to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam. Entering an advanced dental education program at USC requires the submission of letters of recommendation and a biographical statement. The best way to be prepared is to research each individual school to see which requirements are common and which are unique.