The Advancing Science of Dental Hygiene Education

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Dental hygiene education has outpaced dental school curricula in prevention, evidence-based practice, and public-health training. This growing misalignment raises critical questions about workforce readiness, periodontal care quality, and the future of population-based oral health delivery.
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Key Highlights

  • Dental hygiene education has rapidly modernized, embedding evidence-based practice, preventive care, behavioral science, and public-health competencies into CODA standards.
  • Predoctoral dental curricula remain largely restorative and procedural, with limited measurable competencies in prevention, nonsurgical periodontal therapy, and adult-learning pedagogy.
  • This educational gap contributes to uneven workforce readiness and reinforces outdated care models that fall short of today’s population-based prevention needs...

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