Interested in a career as a dental hygienist/ dental hygienist-therapist?

Qualifications & Educational Programmes

There are several ways to qualify as a dental hygienist/ dental hygienist-therapist:

Diploma in Dental Hygiene & Therapy - two year full time course
BSc in Oral Health Science - three year full time course
BSc (Hons) (Edinburgh) - four year course.

The entry requirements for these courses vary and you are advised to contact the school of your choice for a prospectus.

To have worked in a dental environment and obtained a dental nurse qualification, would be advantageous.

All training is based on the curricula determined by the General Dental Council. A further General Dental Council document confirms your scope of practice, for more details: http://www.gdc-uk.org/Newsandpublications/Publications/Publications/ScopeofpracticeApril2009[1].pdf

Dental therapist top up training

Portsmouth University Dental Therapist Vocational Training Scheme (commencing September 2010)
Further details

Edinburgh Dental Institute Dental Therapy Programme for qualified Dental Hygienists

Further details can be obtained from Morag McDiarmid, Edinburgh Postgraduate Dental Institute, 4th Floor, Lauriston Building, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9HA.

Educational Centres

There are 20 training schools in the UK that offer training to become a dental hygienist-therapist or dental hygienist - a full list is given below. Most training courses lead to a joint qualification as a dental hygienist-therapist.

For further details of the courses available, please write to the individual schools, enclosing a large SAE to request a prospectus. The prospectus will provide details about the course structure, qualifications at the end of the training, length of the training course, entry requirements, when the course starts and how to apply.

Aldershot For UK armed forces personnel only	Defence Dental Services Training Establishment Evelyn Woods Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 2LS	W: www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=882 E: T: 01252 347781 T: 01296 656407
Belfast	Queen' s University of Belfast School for Dentistry Belfast School of Dental Hygiene Royal Victoria Hospital Grosvenor Road Belfast BT12 6BA	W: www.qub.ac.uk/cd E: T: 02890 263244 F: 02890 263441
Birmingham	BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy Birmingham Dental Hospital St Chads Queensway Birmingham B4 6NN	W: www.dentistry.bham.ac.uk T: 0121 236 8611 T: 0121 237 2802
Bristol	School of Dental Hygiene University of Bristol Dental Hospital Chapter House Lower Maudlin StreetBristol BS1 2LY	W: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/dental/dcp/ T: 0117 923 0050 T: 0117 928 4132
Cardiff	Training & Education Centre for DCPs Cardiff University Wales College of Medicine Dental School Heath Park Cardiff CF14 4XY	W: www.uwcm.ac.uk W: www.cardiff.ac.uk/dentistry/courses/pcd/ E: T: 029 2074 4251
Dundee	Unit of Health Sciences Dundee Dental Hospital 2 Park Place Dundee DD1 4HR	W: www.dundee.ac.uk/dentalschool/ T: 01382 384697
Edinburgh	School of Health Sciences Edinburgh Dental Institute Level 4, Lauriston Building Lauriston Place Edinburgh EH3 9YW	W: www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/health/ T: 0131 536 4937
Glasgow	School for Professionals Complementary to Dentistry Glasgow Dental Hospital and School 378 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow G2 3JZ	W: www.gla.ac.uk/schools/dental T: 0141 211 9775
Inverness	UHI School of Oral Health Science Centre for Health Science Inverness IV2 3JH	W: www.uhi.ac.uk T: 01463 255842
Leeds	School of Dental Hygiene & Therapy Leeds Dental Institute Clarendon Way Leeds LS2 9UL	W: www.leeds.ac.uk/dental/newldi/index.php T: 0113 343 6255 T: 0113 233 6120
Liverpool Outreach Blackburn Crewe Lancaster Liverpool	Curriculum Co-ordinator Room 3.53 3rd Floor Liverpool University Dental Hospital Pembroke Place Liverpool L3 5PS	W: www.liv.ac.uk/dental E: T: 0151 706 5039 F: 0151 706 5622
London	School of Dental Hygiene & Dental Therapy Eastman Dental Hospital UCLH NHS Trust 256 Gray's Inn Road London WC1X 8LD	W: www.uclh.nhs.uk E: T: 020 3456 1205 F: 020 3456 2388
London	King's NHS Trust Hospital School of Dental Hygiene and Therapy 3rd Floor Dental Extension Caldecot Road London SE5 9RW	W: http://dnetc.kch.nhs.uk/ E: T: 020 3299 5214
London	The Administrator Barts & The London Centre for Dental Care Professionals 18 - 26 Walden Road London E1 2AN	W: www.smd.qmul.ac.uk E: T: 020 7882 8157
Manchester	Unit of Oral Health Science Manchester University Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL	W: www.den.man.ac.uk T: 0161 3060232
Manchester Outreach Salford	4th Floor St James's House Pendleton Way Salford M6 5FW	T: 0161 212 4809
Newcastle	School of Dental Hygiene Floor 3, The Dental Hospital Richardson Road Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AZ	W: www.ncl.ac.uk/dental/ T: 0191 282 4679
Portsmouth	BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy University of Portsmouth School of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry William Beatty Building Hampshire Terrace Portsmouth Hampshire PO1 2QG	W: www.port.ac.uk E: T: 023 9284 3946 T:023 9284 5222
Sheffield	Programme in Hygiene & Therapy School of Clinical Dentistry University of Sheffield Claremont Crescent Sheffield S10 2TA	W: www.shef.ac.uk/dentalschool T: 0114 226 8287 T: 0114 271 7800
Southend on Sea	Department of Health & Human Sciences University of Essex Southend Campus Elmer Way Southend on Sea SS1 1LW	W: www.essex.ac.uk/hhs/ what_we_do/oral_health/oral_health.aspx T: 01702 35860 E:
Teeside	Teeside University	W: http://www.tees.ac.uk/ E: T: 01642 384110 UCAS code: B750 BSc/DHDT Typical offer: 240 tariff points

Universities & Colleges Admissions Service UCAS is the central organisation that processes applications for full-time undergraduate courses at UK universities and colleges. Some training schools now use the UCAS route for applications to their courses.