Objectives : The purpose of this study is to examine correlation between clinical practice and self-esteem in empowerment of dental hygiene students. Methods : Subjects were 399 dental hygiene students in Gwangju and Jeollanamdo. They completed self-reported questionnaire from November 5 to 20, 2012, after infromed consent was accepted. Results : Higher scores in empowerment was found in students who were satisfied with curricula (p<0.05) and major(p<0.001), having higher average grades (p<0.001), and who felt the better atmosphere of the clinical practice (p<0.05) and got more marks in empowerment. The empowerment of the students had a significant positive correlation to their satisfaction with clinical practice(p<0.001) and self-esteem(p<0.001). Satisfaction with clinical practice had a significant positive correlation to self-esteem(p<0.01). Conclusions : Satisfaction with major and higher self-esteem led to empowerment, sustained research efforts should be directed into the development and application of programs that could bolster these factors.