Penn College

Penn College offers local-anesthesia training for dental hygienists

Local Anesthetics for the Dental Hygienist, a 30-hour training course delivered over two weekends, is being offered by Workforce Development and Continuing Education, and the School of Health Sciences at Pennsylvania College of Technology.Scheduled for March 22-23 and April 5-6, the course is designed to provide licensed dental hygienists with the necessary knowledge and skills to administer local anesthesia in a clinical setting. Upon successful completion, participants will be eligible for certification by Pennsylvania’s State Board of Dentistry to administer local anesthetics.Participants will gain knowledge in orofacial anatomy, pathology, pharmacology, armamentarium and complications, and side effects of administering local anesthesia. Practical training includes hands-on application in clinical laboratory settings, and specific requirements set forth by the state Board of Dentistry will be addressed.Since administration of local anesthesia was added in 2009 to the scope of dental hygienists’ practice in Pennsylvania, Penn College has conducted several training programs to address workforce needs.“The feedback from the training program has been fantastic, and the dental community is really starting to embrace the benefits associated with dental hygienists administering local anesthetics,” said Shawn A. Kiser, the college’s director of dental hygiene and course instructor. “New dental hygiene graduates are prepared for local-anesthesia certification immediately following graduation, but there are still a large number of experienced dental hygienists in the workforce that can benefit from the course.”The cost is $1,000 and includes course materials and continental breakfast and lunch each day. Copies of a current dental hygiene license, current cardiopulmonary resuscitation/basic life support certification and proof of liability insurance are required for entrance into the course, which is taught in the Breuder Advanced Technology and Health Sciences Center on the college’s main campus in Williamsport.For more information or to register, visit www.pct.edu/wdce or call 570-327-4775.For information on credit offerings at Penn College, visit www.pct.edu/schools.

Last Updated January 24, 2014

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