Interprofessional education and collaboration

As the only Dental Hygiene program located within a dental school in the Commonwealth of Virginia, our Dental Hygiene students have a unique opportunity to work intraprofessionally alongside dental students as well as with faculty members from dental hygiene, dentistry and specialty areas.

While studying at VCU, students gain invaluable experiences as they learn the practice of dental hygiene while treating a highly diverse patient population. Academic excellence and clinical expertise are further supported by rotations through specialty areas (orthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery and pediatric dentistry) and community-based and private-practice clinics at 14 collaborative service-learning sites throughout the state of Virginia.

Students learn alongside other healthcare colleagues in an interprofessional collaborative setting, whereby "learning about, from, and with each other." Future dental professionals team up with students from the College of Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. The goal is to learn together to provide effective collaboration and improve health outcomes as a healthcare team.