Shoreline Community College’s Dental Hygiene Program will permanently relocate to UW Seattle facilities in Summer 2021

Dental hygiene program at SCC
Photo courtesy SCC

Thanks to a unique partnership between Shoreline Community College and the University of Washington School of Dentistry, dental education training in Washington state is expanding. 

In July 2021, Shoreline’s entire Dental Hygiene program will relocate to the UW School of Dentistry in Seattle, where Shoreline students will take classes and complete their clinical training while receiving their dental hygiene degree from Shoreline.

The arrangement allows opportunities for both Shoreline and UW students to practice “four-handed” dentistry, where dental hygienists and dentists work closely together to shorten the procedure time for patients.

The UW School of Dentistry will be a familiar setting for Shoreline students and faculty, as 10 students are currently fulfilling their clinical training there.

In summer 2021, the program’s location will shift entirely to the UW, with a goal to increase that number eventually to 25 students per class. Under this unique partnership, Dental Hygiene students will continue to earn their accredited Associate of Applied Sciences degree from Shoreline. The partnership will also allow Shoreline students to gain valuable pediatric dental training at the UW’s Center for Pediatric Dentistry.

“Thanks to the support of the state legislature, the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), the University of Washington, and the dental community, Shoreline Community College is writing a bold new chapter that brings our stellar Dental Hygiene program into an enhanced partnership model with one of the best dental schools in the world,” said Shoreline Community College President Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.

“This remarkable collaboration will bring many positive benefits not only to oral health education, but also to serving so many oral health patients throughout our diverse communities,” Roberts added.

Shoreline’s popular program needed to relocate to a different physical facility due to a campus construction project slated to begin in 2021. Talks between Shoreline and the UW School of Dentistry soon revealed strong interest on both sides in a collaboration that would allow the program to be housed on the UW campus. In August 2020, Shoreline received formal approval for the location change from CODA.

“We are thrilled that this partnership with Shoreline has moved forward,” said Dean Gary Chiodo of the UW School of Dentistry. 

“The ability to have dental hygiene students learn and practice in coordination with dental students will benefit all students and our patients. 

"This model resembles how dental hygienists and dentists work together in practice and will provide a substantial advantage for our students. The integrated programs are a model for dental and dental hygiene education.”

Shoreline Community College’s onsite Dental Hygiene Clinic will remain open to the public and continue to be used as a location for Dental Hygiene student clinical experience through the first week of June 2021.