Nutrition and Health

Catalog description

This course is designed to provide the dental hygiene student with foundational knowledge in basic nutrition principles with a review in the application of biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, and other basic science courses coordinated with nutrients and their relationship to health. Topics of study include macro and micronutrients, water, disease, energy balance, eating disorders, nutrition labeling, and oral manifestations of nutritional deficiencies. Students will partake in online assignments, complete an electronic three-day dietary analysis, as well as review pertinent nutrition literature essential to the dental hygiene process of care. In preparation for clinical practice, students will learn how to identify, assess, plan, implement, and evaluate patient’s nutritional habits to assist with a caries risk assessment project. (Prerequisites: Chemistry for Allied Health, Principles of Dental Hygiene II Lecture and Clinic) (Fall)