Advancing the profession through doctoral education.

Doctoral education in dental hygiene is necessary to create a cadre of dental hygiene researchers and scholars, and to develop educators who will expand the body of knowledge for the profession. Dental hygienists with advanced degrees will require skill sets that parallel those of other professionals if they are to function productively as credible, equal members of interprofessional teams. Doctorally-prepared dental hygienists will be working as leaders, administrators and researchers, and will be influential in creating models that increase access to care, developing collaborative health care teams and improving health outcomes. The doctorate of philosophy is the terminal graduate degree for any discipline, and is the pinnacle for the profession. This paper explores the development of doctoral degrees for dental hygiene, and encourages educators to develop models for graduate programs based upon considerations presented here.