Dental Hygiene?~ Help

[TABeard]

Hello all,

I have a few questions about my path going about the profession of dentistry. I am currently in a smaller University knows as University of North Georgia but my intended major is pre-dentistry since that is what I'm interested in for my profession, since the benefits of becoming a dentis are better than the counterpart of the Medcal field. I was thinking since I don't go to a major university that going to a technical college and obtaining a dental hygiene degree and working for a couple years and then going back to school to hopefully finish up the prerequisites and then apply to D-school and become a dentist. Would that be the smartest path and would that help with getting into Dental school?

Thanks any advice is helpfu.

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[doc toothache]

What would be the point of such a circuitous route? Academically, a tc is in a different world.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/dental-hygiene-to-ds.952937/

 

[packerland]

In my personal opinion - I suggest getting your Bachelors degree and applying to dental school right from the get go. If you don't get in, then maybe if you're still interested in the dental field - you could try hygiene? But an RDH + pre-reqs doesn't seem to be ideal for dental schools! Experience in the field is good - but they also want to know you have the abilities to thrive in the sciences. Hygiene is a different form of science - and alone, hygiene will not prepare you enough for the extensive curriculum of dental school, like upper-level science courses would.

 

[rnco]

Getting A's in science at a university > learning to scratch teeth.

 

[dent777]

That's what I did. I worked as a dental hygienist for two years. Decided to go back to u, finishing my bio degree now. Got into dental school. Working as a hygienist allowed me to gain hands on experience. However, I understand that the costs and time of my path are not the most efficient. If you feel confident/mature enough that you can get high grades in sciences, I would do that. But, being a hygienist and working for a few years for a variety of dentists definitely helped me get that acceptance.