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Home > Archive > Jul 26, 2007

Community Dental Care on Wheels
By Cami Cox
Staff Writer
Since last November, Dixie State College's dental hygiene students have been taking their skills on the road, thanks to the Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic. An addition to DSC's dental hygiene program, which recently became the school's eighth official baccalaureate degree, the large bus travels through St. George and to surrounding areas with “A few miles for bright smiles” emblazoned on its side, providing dental care to individuals who can't afford or otherwise don't have access to it.
“It's definitely a win-win for our students and for the patients who have no other access to care,” DSC dental hygiene program coordinator Karmen Aplanalp said.
Traveling to such places as the Doctors' Free Clinic, Southwest Community Health Center, Head Start, and the Paiute Indian Reservation, the Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic transports Dixie's dental hygiene students wherever they are needed. The students provide services such as dental cleanings, sealants, X-rays, and exams for those they serve, treating Medicaid and CHIP patients (whom many local dentists don't treat or treat in limited numbers, Aplanalp said) and treating those who have insurance, as well, just as a regular dentist's office would. A $20,000 Utah State Primary Care grant, given to the dental hygiene program in December 2006, also provides for the treatment of uninsured patients.
“For those that have no insurance, we have the grant money to cover costs,” Aplanalp said.
Through the Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic, the Dixie State College dental hygiene program is able to reach out to the community and do its part to serve others; at the same time, the dental hygiene students are able to receive invaluable work experience to aid them as they work toward their degrees.
Aplanalp said she hopes to increase the reach of the Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic's services in the near future, providing care to even more individuals who need it.
“We already provide volunteer services for the community, but we want to increase that,” she said. “We would like to start going into elementary schools this year. That was one of the main reasons we started the mobile clinic.”
She also hopes to enlist the help of dentists in the community who would be willing to donate a small amount of their time each month to provide free or reduced services that the Mobile Dental Hygiene Clinic can't offer, such as restorative treatments, fillings and crowns. Dentists interested and willing to do so should contact the dental hygiene program.
Dixie State College's dental hygiene program has been ranked among the best in the nation, with students scoring in the top five percent on the national board exam and having the fourth-highest passing rate among students in programs throughout the nation.
Currently, 32 students are enrolled in the program. When the program becomes four years in fall 2008 and moves to the new Russell C. Taylor Health Sciences Center at Dixie Regional Medical Center, that number will increase by 24 students, according to information from Dixie State College. With that increase, the dental hygiene program will also be able to increase its outreach to the community.

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