These dental hygiene students, who attended the St. John’s Baptist Church block party in August, are starting their second year of the program this fall.

Students of dental hygiene at Amarillo College keep giving everyone associated with the program good reason to smile.

 

All 27 students who graduated in May from AC’s Dental Hygiene Program learned this summer that they passed the clinical competency examination administered by Central Regional Dental Testing Services (CRDTS).

 

By achieving a 100-percent pass rate on the clinical exam, the 2016 graduates solidified AC’s superlative recent record of success: Since 2011, 95.8 percent of AC’s dental hygiene graduates have passed the exam on their first attempt. AC students also turned in a cumulative average test score of 93.4 over that stretch.

 

The bottom line is that area dentists and, consequently, their multitude of patients, have been treated to a steady stream of outstanding professionals to fill important dental-hygiene roles throughout the community.

 

“Our students once again did a fantastic job,” Donna Cleere, director of the Dental Hygiene Program, said. “I appreciate their supreme efforts, and certainly those of our highly dedicated faculty, staff, and dentists who contribute so much to our program, too.

 

“This really is a team effort,” she said.

 

CRDTS is a testing service made up of 19 state boards of dentistry that have joined forces to develop and administer valid and reliable examinations of competency to practice dentistry and dental hygiene. AC became an official CRDTS test site in 2011.

 

Upon completion of an A.A.S. degree in dental hygiene, and having passed required licensure exams, those entering the local workforce as a dental hygienist can command median annual salaries of $69,000, according to Start Here Careers, although entry-level hygienists tend to make less.

 

For more information about the Dental Hygiene Program at AC, please contact Donna Cleere at (806) 354-6064 or dkcleere@actx.edu.

 

August 22, 2016