Course summary

This course remains subject to approval by the General Dental Council (GDC). Are you looking for a hands-on career where you can make a real difference to people’s health and confidence? Our BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy is a three-year course that trains you to become both a Dental Hygienist and a Dental Therapist, preparing you for registration with the General Dental Council (GDC) and a rewarding career in oral healthcare. There's never been a better time to train as you can now apply for a £5000 grant that you won't need to pay back! There is also an extra £3000 funding available depending on your personal circumstances. You can find more information about eligibility and how to apply on the HSC Scholarships and Funding page. Our BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Therapy course is a full-time, three-year course designed to prepare you for a career as a Dental Care Professional (DCP) within the clinical dental field. There is currently much interest in the future role of the Dental Therapist in the delivery of oral healthcare in the UK, and our course enables you to register with the General Dental Council (GDC). Here at Essex, we have one of the largest portfolios of Dental Hygiene courses in the East of England, putting us in a strong position to provide you with excellent training and education. We offer courses that both commissioners and employers believe in, and our training integrates NHS values and principles, meaning that your abiding focus is on helping people. People are at the heart of all we do, and students are involved in the appropriate treatment of patients from early on within the programme. This allows you to develop and enhance crucial skills that prepare you to care for patients and clients in the workplace. The School of Health and Social Care is proud to work closely with our Service User Reference Group (SURG). SURG is made up of service users, carers, and volunteers who generously share their first-hand experiences of health and social care. We work collaboratively with SURG to design our courses to ensure that we truly are putting the needs of patients and clients at the heart of what we do. SURG are involved as part of our course application processes and often form part of our interview panels. This helps us to be confident that we are selecting the right applicants for the course and their future careers. SURG members also support the delivery of our teaching sessions and research activity, which means you'll benefit from an insight into their lived experiences of living with a diagnosis, health condition, or circumstance. You'll find that not only does your clinical knowledge expand, but your empathy, compassion and ability to advocate develops also. The cost of required uniform will be fully covered by the school. Please note that any students who require sponsorship for a Student visa to study in the UK will not be able to undertake this course, in accordance with Home Office regulations – the course will be open to home students only.