Accredited dental hygiene program
Foothill College
12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Foothill College runs an accredited dental hygiene program in Los Altos Hills, CA. Students train by working on real patients, which is why programs like this often run a low-cost clinic that anyone can book into.
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.
Common Questions
Can I bring my children?
Many programs treat children and some run dedicated sessions for them, but minimum ages vary and not every clinic accepts them. Children often need a shorter appointment than the student schedule assumes, so ask before booking.
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 a Hygiene Clinic Can and Cannot Do
Hygiene students are trained in preventive and gum care, so a teaching clinic covers cleanings, deep cleaning for gum disease, X-rays, gum assessments, fluoride, sealants, and technique coaching.
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.
Prices vary program by program but sit well below private practice, and a flat fee covering every appointment is common. X-rays may or may not be included — worth asking. Appointments run long, two to three hours is normal, and clinics follow the academic year, so many close over the summer and between terms.
Before You Call
The clinic is rarely at the address the college publishes for itself — it is normally in the health sciences building, with a separate line and separate hours. Worth settling on the phone: where the clinic entrance is, and where to park, whether the clinic closes over the summer or between terms, whether a screening or phone assessment comes first, whether they can treat you if you have not seen a dentist in years, and how long one appointment runs, and how many the treatment will take.
Hours and fees change from one term to the next, so confirm shortly before you go rather than relying on a page read weeks earlier.
Accreditation
Status: Approval without Reporting Requirements, next reviewed in 2026. It reviews the program every few years against a national standard for teaching. Patient access, fees and waiting times are outside what it looks at.
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.
Other Low-Cost Options in California
- Community health center dental clinics in California — these treat what a hygiene clinic can only diagnose, and they discount by household income.
- Dental schools in California — cheaper than private practice for large amounts of work, slower than everything else, and selective about which cases they take.
- 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