Apply to Dental Hygiene

• High school diploma or GED
• Complete the online Dental Hygiene Program application by the deadline
• Complete all program prerequisites
• Minimum 3.0 in science prerequisite courses (no C-, D, or F grades accepted)
• Minimum 2.5 in non-science prerequisite courses (no C-, D, or F grades accepted)

¹ Any course that meets the Ethnic/Multicultural graduation requirement meets this enrollment eligibility criteria.

² BIOL 430 and 431, Anatomy and Physiology; BIOL 440, General Microbiology; CHEM 305 and CHEM 306 or CHEM 309, with 7-year recency from time of enrollment eligibility.

³ MATH 300, STAT 300, STAT 480 or higher meets this enrollment eligibility criteria.

Students may choose to follow their catalog rights for prerequisites to the program, or they may choose to follow the prerequisites to the program listed at time of entry. If you plan to use catalog rights and meet eligibility with the Ethnic/Multicultural graduation requirement you will need an "AA/AS General Education Requirements" form completed by a LRCCD counselor verifying your catalog year prior to 2025-2026. If you already have an "AA/AS General Education Requirements" form completed and it is missing the catalog year you will need to have a new form completed to upload into your 2025-2026 program application.

¹ Any course that meets the Ethnic/Multicultural graduation requirement meets this enrollment eligibility criteria.

² BIOL 430 and 431, Anatomy and Physiology; BIOL 440, General Microbiology; CHEM 305 and CHEM 306 or CHEM 309, with 7-year recency from time of enrollment eligibility.

³ MATH 300, STAT 300, STAT 480 or higher meets this enrollment eligibility criteria.

The Dental Hygiene Associate in Science (A.S.) degree may be obtained by completion of the required program, and either (a) the Local General Education Pattern or (b) the California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC), plus sufficient electives for a total of at least 60 units. See SCC graduation requirements.

• Check your classes on the Dental Hygiene Equivalency Course List because your prior coursework may count toward required classes for the Dental Hygiene program.
• If you don’t see your course from another institution on the Equivalency Chart, but believe it should be counted, complete a Course Substitution Petition and be sure to give yourself at least two weeks for processing. Once your petition is approved, an Official Transcript will need to be submitted to the Admission & Records Office prior to the application deadline.

This table is for students who have completed general education (GE) courses for an AA or AS degree before Fall 2025 and plan to maintain their catalog rights to use SCC’s old GE pattern for their AA or AS degree. Students can use courses from the new GE areas (second column) to fulfill the corresponding old GE requirements (first column).

For example, if you need to complete a course from area IIb on the old GE pattern (first column), you can use the new GE pattern and take a course from either L1B or L2 (second column) to meet the IIb requirement.

Catalog Rights

For the purpose of graduating or earning a certificate from any college in the Los Rios Community College District, a student who attends at least one session (whether quarter, semester, or summer) in each calendar year at any California community college, California State University, University of California, or any regionally accredited institution of higher education, may choose to meet the requirements in effect at the Los Rios college from which the student intends to graduate, as follows:

• Requirements that were in effect at the time the student was admitted to a Los Rios college
• Requirements that were in effect at the time the student originally enrolled in an accredited college
• Requirements that were in effect at the intended date of graduation from a Los Rios college

Please note:

• A college may authorize or request substitution for discontinued courses.
• students who change their major field of study may be required to complete those requirements for the major in effect at the point of change.

For purposes of this section, "attendance" means taking classes in at least one session (semester or summer session) in each calendar year. Absence for attendance at another regionally accredited institution shall not be considered an interruption in attendance, per Los Rios Policy P-7242: Establishing Catalog Rights.

Exception

Students who possess a bachelor's (BA/BS) or higher degree from a college or university accredited through a regional accrediting agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) are deemed to have satisfied both the general education and graduation competency requirements for an AA/AS degree. Degrees from accredited institutions outside of the US will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

If your goal is to earn an Occupational Therapy Assistant - Associate of Science (AS) degree without transfer, then you can follow the local AA/AS GE requirements or the Cal-GETC requirements to select your GE classes.

Regardless of what type of student you are, it's best to meet with a counselor to help you pick courses that will meet the GE requirements for your educational goal.

• After April 1st, all applicants are placed in a lottery pool for selection. The Program director will verify that each applicant only has their name once in the pool.
• The list of all applicants is given to the division dean, who randomizes the list by using a computer program. Dental faculty and/or staff are not involved in the randomization process.
• The randomized list is returned to the dental hygiene Program director. The foremost applicants on the list will be evaluated for eligibility by the Program director until 24 eligible applicants are identified. Once 24 eligible applicants are identified, offers of admission are emailed to the applicants by the Program director. Offers of admission are sent within 2-4 weeks of the application close date. Alternates are utilized when eligible applicants from the top 24 decline admission. Alternates are selected based upon their position on the randomized list. When an alternate is utilized the Program director will evaluate their application for eligibility. Eligible alternates will be notified using the email provided in their online application and have 24 hours to respond. If the alternate does not respond within the 24-hour period they will be no longer considered, and the next alternate will be contacted.
  • The Program director evaluates applications for eligibility, only for candidates being reviewed for admission into a cohort.
    
  • At any time, all applicants have the option to view Program eligibility requirements on the website and/or meet with a school counselor to obtain eligibility guidance.

Accepted students are required to provide documentation of:

• Ability to perform essential job-related functions of a dental hygienist
• Completed physical examination and immunizations
• TB test
• Completion of criminal background check
• 8-panel drug screening test
• Castlebrach online HIPPA and OSHA training
• SCC facilitates a required on-site CODA approved CPR course during the new student orientation the first week of June