RALEIGH, N.C., July 18, 2017 – Delta Dental of North Carolina (DDNC) has established the Delta Dental Excellence Scholarship with the Wake Tech Foundation to assist students in the college’s dental hygiene and dental assisting programs. The scholarship is well aligned with DDNC’s commitment to expanding oral hygiene education and access to high quality oral care throughout the state.

DDNC will award a total of $5,000 annually, to be divided evenly among eight scholarship recipients. Four students in their second year of the dental hygiene degree program and four students in their second semester of the dental assisting program will be selected based on both financial need and academic merit.

Wake Tech Community College’s two-year dental hygiene program prepares students to perform oral health assessments, provide nutritional counseling and promote self-care programs to prevent oral disease. They also learn to clean patients’ teeth and place dental sealants, among other treatments.

Over the course of three semesters, students in the college’s dental assisting program learn to help dentists provide quality oral healthcare, educate patients, prepare and sterilize dental instruments and perform administrative work.

"Our hard working students are grateful that Delta Dental of North Carolina has chosen to invest in our program,” said Matthew Smith, executive director of the Wake Tech Foundation. “The support offered by Delta Dental truly makes a difference as these men and women focus on growing their careers in dentistry."

“Delta Dental of North Carolina is proud to partner with the Wake Tech Foundation to support the educational goals of students enrolled in Wake Tech's dental hygiene and dental assisting programs,” said Curt Ladig, CEO of Delta Dental of North Carolina. “Our mission is to improve the oral health of the communities we serve, and the Delta Dental Excellence Scholarship serves to advance that mission in Wake County by providing financial assistance to future dental professionals."

For more information about the scholarship or to apply, please visit: https://www.waketech.edu/wake-tech-foundation/scholarships

About Delta Dental of North Carolina

Delta Dental of North Carolina is a nonprofit dental service corporation created in 1970 to provide dental benefits throughout the state. Its mission is to improve the oral health of the communities it serves. It does so by providing affordable access to oral health care with the largest network of dentists, including two out of every three dentists, in North Carolina. For more information, visit www.deltadentalnc.com.

About Wake Tech Foundation

The Wake Tech Foundation cultivates and manages an array of resources critical to Wake Tech Community College’s success: corporate investments, private grants, alumni and employee contributions, and financial and in-kind support from many other friends of the college. For more information, visit https://www.waketech.edu/wake-tech-foundation/.

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