All smiles

Every member of Clark College’s 2019 dental hygiene graduating class passed all six of their board exams. Photo courtesy of Kristi Taylor.

Clark College’s dental hygiene program has long had plenty to smile about: its high-quality teaching facilities, its status as the college’s first bachelor’s degree program, and its important work providing dental hygiene care in the community.

Recently, the program’s faculty received news to make their smiles even brighter: Every student in their 2019 graduating class passed all six of their board exams.

The exams are extremely rigorous, and a 100 percent pass rate is remarkable. The exams include:

  • The National Board Exam (an 8-hour written exam)
  • The Restorative Exam (placement and finishing of amalgam [silver] and composite [white]) fillings
  • The Anesthesia Written Exam
  • The Anesthesia Clinical Exam (accurately administer the 2 most difficult injections on a patient)
  • Hygiene Clinical Exam (thoroughly remove tenacious calculus [tartar] from a patient’s teeth with severe periodontitis [gum disease])
  • The Ethical Board exam

“These are six different high-stakes exams that test the students’ knowledge and skills,” wrote Dean of Business and Health Sciences Brenda Walstead in an email to the college community. “Thank you to an extremely dedicated and talented group of faculty and staff for working endless hours to prepare the students to pass each of these exams, obtain their licenses, and go to work.”