Dental Assisting Major, A.S.

Dental Assisting Admission Requirements

• Acceptance to the University of Southern Indiana
• Completion of pre-requisite courses with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.50 (on a 4.00 scale)
  • The following prerequisite courses must be completed by the end of the spring semester in the year the student desires admission to the program: ENG 101 , CMST 101 , and HP 115 .
  • All prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of C or higher.
• Program candidates must be in good health and capable of fulfilling clinical practice requirements.

Pre-requisite Courses (8 hours)

• ENG 101 - Rhetoric and Composition I: Literacy and the Self Credits: 3
• CMST 101 - Introduction to Public Speaking Credits: 3
• HP 115 - Medical Terminology for the Health Professions Credits: 2

Required Coursework (33 hours)

• DTAS 111 - Oral Pathology Credits: 1
• DTAS 122 - Clinical Science I Credits: 5
• DTAS 144 - Introduction to Dental Specialties Credits: 1
• DTAS 156 - Human Systems I Credits: 3
• DTAS 158 - Practice Management, Ethics, and Jurisprudence Credits: 2
• DTAS 166 - Human Systems II Credits: 3
• DTAS 175 - Preventive Dentistry Credits: 2
• DTAS 177 - Dental Assisting Skills Laboratory Credits: 2
• DTAS 181 - Clinical Science II Credits: 6
• DTHY 303 - Oral Radiology Credits: 3
• DTHY 308 - Applied Dental Materials Credits: 3
• DTHY 314 - Oral Anatomy Credits: 2

Dental Assisting AS degree, Core 39 coursework (19 hours)

The Associate of Science degree is available to certificate program graduates who complete a second academic year. Of the 60 hours required to graduate with an AS degree, 25 hours must be Core 39 courses. At the completion of the dental assisting certificate curriculum the student will have earned 41 hours; six of the 41 credits are Core 39 courses. Nineteen additional hours of Core 39 coursework must be selected from the following categories (see Core 39  for approved courses):

• Foundations-Composition II (3 hours)
• Foundations-Mathematics (3-4 hours)
• Ways of Knowing (choose one course from up to 4 categories/max 12 hours); no two courses can have the same prefix
  • Creative and Aesthetic Expression
  • Historical Inquiry
  • Moral and Ethical Reasoning
  • Scientific and Mathematical Inquiry
  • Social Inquiry
  • World Languages and Culture
• Natural Science (7-8 hours, no more than one non-lab course)