Dental Therapy

This course introduces the Community Health Aide Program history, structure and Standards and Procedures. It provides an introduction to the theory and practice of dentistry therapy, public health dentistry, basic dental procedures, dental anatomy, dental assisting, infection control, dental radiology, dental problems, and referrals.

This course introduces and develops the skills needed to complete operative dental procedures. Skills include paying attention to detail, visualizing three-dimensional relationships, hand-eye coordination, and critical evaluation. The material will be presented in lecture, laboratory, web-based, and self-study format.

This course is designed to help students learn the basic principles of public health. Students will use an established framework, such as a logic model, to develop community projects. The course will provide introduction for students to complete a needs assessment, define a problem in their chosen community, write objectives, find data sources, and develop an evaluation plan. Throughout this course there will be a focus on communication with an emphasis on learning how to develop a presentation and being able to tell your story.

This course prepares students to collect and analyze oral and general health information, including clinical and psychological data, in order to develop a comprehensive dental treatment plan prioritized on urgency and risk assessment, and tailored to the individual needs of the patient. Students complete comprehensive exams on patients and document these encounters in clinical notes.

This course introduces the art and science of preventing dental disease through motivational interviewing. The student will learn how to provide targeted instruction on aspects of public health dentistry and work with individual patients and target populations. There will also be an emphasis on learning the legal aspects of the practice for Dental Health Aides and the ethical principles that guide professional practice. Some subtopics covered in Healthy Healers include developing your support system, historical trauma, setting boundaries and self-care.

This course introduces the anatomy of the head and neck with special emphasis on intraoral tissues, bones, and muscles. The student will explore how these structures interact together and what happens when pathological processes develop.

In this course students will demonstrate a working knowledge of local anesthetic agents, the armamentarium to administer the agents, and complications associated with administration of the agents. Students will demonstrate competency in providing clinical local anesthesia.

Students will learn and demonstrate the infection control principles necessary for dental health aide therapists to operate safely within a dental office and to prevent the spread of microbial diseases. Topics covered include microbiology of infectious disease, transmission of disease, personal protective equipment, and current infection control best practices. This course occurs in both a classroom and clinical setting.

This course is designed to expand the knowledge of Dental Health Aide Therapy students with an emphasis on critical thinking.

During this course students will provide patient care in a clinical setting. Care can include diagnosis, treatment planning, preventive services, operative services, extractions, and other procedures in the DHAT scope of practice. Care can be provided to patients at any stage of life.