Blue Bell, Pa.—This spring, the Dental Hygiene program at Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) will offer a hybrid course to train licensed dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia.
The course, “Local Anesthesia for Dental Hygienists,” begins March 25. It is approved for dental hygienists licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey per each state’s Board of Dentistry.
According to Jenny Sheaffer, director of Dental Hygiene at MCCC, the anesthesia course benefits practicing dental hygienists in their current jobs and better positions them for the future.
“Being able to administer anesthesia increases the scope of practice for a dental hygienist and enables dental offices to be more efficient,” explained Sheaffer. “Dental hygienists who obtain their local anesthesia certification will continue to be competitive in the job market, since dental hygiene programs currently include this course as part the curriculum.”
The 33-hour hybrid course includes six online modules and three laboratory sessions in Blue Bell. Online topics include anatomy, mechanism of action, local anesthetic agents and vasoconstrictors, patient evaluation, local and systemic effects, complications and reversal agents.
During the clinical sessions, which are held in the Dental Hygiene Clinic at MCCC’s Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, participants will perform safe and effective local anesthesia administration on clinical partners under the supervision of certified faculty and a licensed dentist.
To enroll in this course, students must have basic computer skills and must provide proof of liability insurance and copies of their dental hygiene license and their current CPR certification.
For more information, call 215-641-6623 or email jsheaffe@mc3.edu.
MCCC’s Dental Hygiene Program is an accredited, 70-credit hour Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) program that prepares students to perform dental hygiene procedures in a variety of dental hygiene practice settings. Graduates are also prepared to transfer to a four-year institution to continue their studies. To learn more, visit http://www.mc3.edu/academics and select Areas of Study, Health Sciences, then Dental Hygiene.
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