Dental Hygiene Board provisionally approves CBU program, reshapes program rules and elects Joanne Pacheco president

The Dental Hygiene Board of California on March 22 provisionally approved a new Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene proposed by California Baptist University and took several other actions on education programs, regulatory language and board leadership.

The board elected Joanne Pacheco as its 2025 president, approved a change to Cabrillo College's enrollment pattern to admit cohorts of 20 every other year, voted to disapprove a request from Concord Career College to continue a nine-week term schedule, formed a task force to draft penalty rubrics for noncompliant dental hygiene education programs and directed staff to pursue amendments to a regulation that governs registered dental hygienists in alternative practice.

The board's education committee had recommended provisional approval of California Baptist University's program after reviewing the school's feasibility study and full submission. Member Michael Long presented the committee's recommendation to the full board; the board then voted to provisionally approve the CBU program. Julie Elginer, a public member, told the board she reviewed the 400-plus page submission and called it "very thorough and exceptionally well done." The university thanked the board during public comment.

On program schedules, the board accepted the education committee's recommendation to allow Cabrillo College to admit cohorts every other year beginning with the June 2026 cohort, a change the committee concluded would keep the program compliant while matching local…