Accredited dental hygiene program
Concorde Career College- San Diego
Concorde Career College, 4393 Imperial Ave, San Diego, CA 92113
Concorde Career College- San Diego is a college in San Diego, CA with an accredited dental hygiene program. Hygiene students qualify by treating patients, so many programs open a teaching clinic to the public where a cleaning costs a fraction of the private price.
What matters most before you make the trip is scope. Dental hygienists are trained in preventive and gum care, so a hygiene clinic can clean your teeth thoroughly and treat gum disease, but it cannot fill a cavity, pull a tooth, or fit a crown. If something hurts, this is not the place to start.
Before You Call
Teaching clinics are usually in the college’s health sciences building rather than at the main campus address, and they keep their own hours and phone line. Worth settling on the phone: whether children are treated, and from what age, what to bring — identification, medication list, previous X-rays, the total fee, and whether X-rays and follow-up visits are inside it, where the clinic entrance is, and where to park, and whether the clinic closes over the summer or between terms.
Term dates move these details around, which is why a call the week before is worth more than one a month ahead.
What a Hygiene Clinic Can and Cannot Do
What a supervised hygiene clinic offers is the preventive side of dentistry — cleanings, deep cleaning, X-rays, gum health checks, fluoride, sealants, and coaching on technique.
What it does not offer is anything a dentist must do: fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions, dentures, implants, or emergency treatment. If the examination finds a cavity or a broken tooth, the clinic will tell you and refer you on, but the treatment happens elsewhere. If a tooth hurts now, start somewhere else.
Each program sets its own price, usually well below a private practice, and some charge a single fee for the whole course of treatment. Check whether X-rays are part of it. Appointments run long, two to three hours is normal, and clinics follow the academic year, so many close over the summer and between terms.
Other Accredited Hygiene Programs in California
California has 26 accredited dental hygiene programs altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:
- West Coast University — Anaheim
- Cabrillo College — Aptos
- Southwestern College — Chula Vista
- West Los Angeles College — Culver City
- Cypress College — Cypress
The full California list has the rest.
Common Questions
What if I have not seen a dentist in years?
That is a common reason to come here and not a problem in itself — heavy build-up is exactly what students need to work on. Expect more than one appointment, and expect to be referred on if the examination finds decay, since that is a dentist’s job.
How long will the appointment take?
Two to three hours is normal, and some programs split what a private hygienist would finish in one visit across two. The student works carefully and stops for an instructor to check the work, often more than once. Allow the whole morning or afternoon.
Can I use this instead of seeing a dentist at all?
Not really. A hygiene clinic maintains the teeth you have; it cannot diagnose and treat what goes wrong with them. Think of it as the cheap way to keep up preventive care, alongside a dentist you see when something needs fixing.
Will they take X-rays?
Usually yes, and often as part of the assessment rather than on request. Whether they are included in the quoted fee or billed on top varies by program, and it is frequently the difference between a cheap visit and a less cheap one. Ask when you book.
What should I bring?
Photo identification, a list of your current medications, your dentist’s details if you have one, and a means of payment that is not a card unless you have checked they take one. Some college clinics still do not.
What happens at the first visit?
An examination that is more thorough than you are probably used to — it is being graded — then usually X-rays and gum measurements before any cleaning starts. Some programs use the first visit for assessment only and book the cleaning separately.
Accreditation
Status: Approval without Reporting Requirements, next reviewed in 2028. That is a judgment on the education, not on the clinic: it says nothing about opening hours, prices or whether anyone is being taken on.
Other Low-Cost Options in California
- Community health center dental clinics in California — the route for treatment rather than prevention: fillings, extractions and dentures, priced against what you earn.
- Dental schools in California — the reduced-cost route for real treatment. Expect a screening visit first and a course of work measured in months.
- Free and charitable dental care in California — volunteer and donated-care programs, with eligibility rules and limited places.
- How sliding-scale clinics work — who qualifies for an income-based discount and how to apply for one.
Other Dental Hygiene Programs Nearby
- Cabrillo College — Aptos, CA
- Carrington College — Sacramento, CA
- Carrington College San Jose — San Jose, CA
- Carrington College - Ontario — Ontario, CA
- Carrington College - Visalia — Visalia, CA