Missouri College opens free hygiene clinic

According to an official from the college, the free services come at a welcome time, with rising unemployment and a lack of medical and dental insurance creating a financial hardship for many people.

The clinic opened Nov. 23.

“We are encouraging people to make appointments now for themselves and their children,” said Hubert Benitez, DDS, director of the dental hygiene program at Missouri College, in a press release announcing the opening of the clinic.

“Our dental hygiene students have been preparing for this work since they began their studies last March. They have followed a rigorous program and have been building their skills preparing themselves to begin serving the public,” Dr Benitez said.

The dental hygiene student will perform an examination, and prepare and implement a treatment plan, while instructors examine, review and oversee the dental hygiene student’s work.

The clinic will offer the following services, free of charge: intraoral and extraoral radiographs; risk assessments; vital signs monitoring (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature); periodontal treatments, including calculus detection, periodontal scaling, root (planing) debridement, ultrasonic scaling; fluoride therapy; pit and fissure sealants; coronal polishing and dental prosthesis maintenance; health education and preventive services; nutrition advising; and oral cancer screening.

Patients whom the hygienist and dentist identify as needing additional dental services, such as fillings or crowns, are being referred to area dentists.

While the new clinic is open to the community at large, Benitez is making efforts to recruit low-income and uninsured patients. He has spearheaded the development of partnerships with the Little Bit Foundation, a non-profit agency that serves underprivileged children in St. Louis City schools, and with Santa Cecilia Catholic Church, a parish in South St. Louis. Both groups plan to arrange appointments for patients and organize trips to the clinic.

“We see a strong need in our community for both dental care and dental education among our low-income populations,” Dr Benitez said. “Part of our mission at Missouri College is to reach out to these groups and improve access to oral health care, so we welcome the help from our partners to bring us patients in need.”

Dr Benitez has also formed alliances with other community partners, including the St. Louis chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association to develop educational coursework that instructs students on treating patients with special needs. Missouri College has also teamed up with Saint Louis University’s Doisy College of Health Sciences to offer a Medical Spanish course to help health profession students better communicate with Hispanic patients.

The Dental Hygiene Education program at Missouri College was launched in March 2009. The new program is separate from a dental assistant degree program, which the college has operated for more than 30 years.

Missouri College opened in 1963. It offers diploma, specialized associate and bachelor’s degree programs in the healthcare and business areas, with a focus on dental, healthcare, massage therapy and management fields.