Purpose: The purposes of this study are to investigate the actual uses of a smartphone and tendencies for smartphone addiction among dental hygiene students, examine the effects of life stress, self-esteem, communication ability and interpersonal relationship ability considered to have correlations with addiction, and is provided basic data to solve the problems. Methods: The investigator analyzed data collected from 332 students in the Dental Hygiene Department at J University in Gyeongnam Province with SPSS 18.0. Results: The students scored mean 2.34±0.40 points on the four-point scale of smartphone addiction tendencies, 1.70±0.43 on the life stress scale, 2.99±0.32 on the interpersonal relationship ability scale, 2.80±0.42 on the self-esteem scale, and 2.83±0.39 on the Communication ability scale. There were differences in their smartphone addiction tendencies according to such general characteristics as the grade(p<.05), perceptions of a smartphone(p<.001), and hours of using a smartphone(p<.001). They had differences in life stress according to the grade(p<.01). Their smartphone addiction tendencies increased according to higher percentage of a smartphone(β=.360, p<.001), longer hours of using a smartphone(β=.225, p<.001), and greater life stress(β=.297, p<.001). The higher their smartphone addiction tendencies were, the lower their self-esteem was(β=.-210, p<.001). Conclusions: The study provides data needed for dental hygiene students to recognize the problems of smartphone addiction, find improvement measures, and make effective use of a smartphone.