Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy (Hons) University of Portsmouth

Overview

Throughout the Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy (Hons) degree offered at University of Portsmouth you'll practise your skills in our Dental Academy model clinical practice, with dental treatment bays and simulation technology, including our Phantom Head skill lab, new haptics suite and radiography equipment

Career opportunities:

Both dental hygienists and dental therapists provide oral care that helps patients maintain a healthy mouth, gums and teeth. The treatments and procedures they carry out – such as scaling and polishing, and taking dental X-rays – are designed to support good oral health and prevent dental problems before they develop.

In addition to this, dental therapists are also trained to do some of the same work as dentists, including fillings, and extracting and placing preformed crowns on 'baby' teeth.

On adult patients, dental therapists can provide any dental work that doesn't require treatment to the nerve of a tooth, which makes them an essential support to dentists and a versatile and multi-skilled member of a dental team.  

On this BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy degree, you'll develop the knowledge, skills and professionalism you need to take on either of these roles, both of which are in high demand throughout the UK, in the NHS and in the private healthcare sector.

After you complete this course, you’ll be able to register with the General Dental Council (GDC) as a dental hygienist and a dental therapist and embark on your dental career straight away.

Looking to study just dental hygiene? Take a look at our BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene degree.  

What areas can you work in with a dental hygiene and dental therapy degree?

When you complete the course, you'll be qualified to work in areas such as:

• general dental practice

• hospital dental services

• the Armed Forces

• the NHS

• health promotion

• owning and managing a dental business of your own

Roles our graduates have taken on include:

• dental hygienist

• dental therapist

• oral health educator

• practice manager

• practice owner