Over the last three years,
Cape Cod Community College Dental Hygiene Program has had many exciting opportunities and equipment updates. The program received two grants, it is in the process of receiving final approvals for a dental assisting certificate program and an expansion of the current dental hygiene program. These updates
are positive additions to the program and certainly will help address the national workforce shortage in oral health care as well as in the Cape Cod area.
As part of the grant funding, the program was able to purchase a digital dental workflow from Dentsply Sirona, which includes prime scan for digital impressions and CAD/CAM in addition to a 3D printer. The faculty are excited to incorporate this into the dental assisting curriculum and have dental hygiene
graduates experienced with scanning.
The program was also able to purchase six EMS piezo/air polishing units for sub-gingival air polishing procedures (see photo above). In addition, the program also acquired nomad dental radiograph systems and new digital sensors.
The program also shifted to Ascend Academic, a new practice management software system that is cloud based and incorporates academic grading. Ascend Academic is a newer version of Axium and is gaining traction in dental hygiene schools. Another tool the program is piloting is new artificial intelligence programs for voice
charting and image recognition.
Finally, dental hygiene students were able to attend a three-day dental hygiene board review in January 2024 at the
Yankee Dental Congress in Boston, MA. This opportunity was made possible by a generous donation from the Lombard Foundation of Barnstable, MA.
Published on February 14, 2024
Courtesy of Cape Cod
Community College Dental
Hygiene Program