Mesa Community College dental program offering free screenings
Mesa Community College dental students will offer free screenings on Feb. 3 for those with prolonged dental issues.
The screening will be held at Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, patients qualifying for the complementary screening will receive a health history exam that includes blood pressure and glucose screenings, as well as head, neck, and oral soft and hard tissue evaluations.
Second year dental hygiene clinical coordinator, Dawn Brause stated, the screenings are hosted by the dental hygiene program once every fall semester and once every spring semester.
Faculty will oversee the students and make sure everything is done in a sequential manner and meets the standards of the dental hygiene field.
To spread the word about the screening, the program has put flyers out in English and Spanish around the Southern and Dobson and Red mountain campuses, along with promoting the event on social media.
Brause provided a layout of what guests can expect upon walking in the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health.
“The students will provide the patient with a tailored plan and they provide them with written instructions. They go over, they also share educational links with them on their disease process, what to entail, they go over in depth what they’re going to do, the visits are going to take multiple visits if they qualify, and faculty is there,” said Brause.
Patients will receive free X-rays and an oral cancer screening that comes with the assessment.
Students will check the gums for bacteria during these assessments to determine if a patient is qualified for a return visit .
If patients are qualified for a return visit, they will be asked to come back in the evening where they will be asked to pay a total of $300 to $350.
Brause describes that although the services are not entirely free, they are at an extremely discounted rate.
“Typically in a dental office, without insurance, you’re looking at a few thousand dollars to have this type of treatment done vs $300 dollars. Like I said, our prices are very reasonable and our appointments are also in the evening so we can seek individuals that have a busy work schedule and can come to us after work,” said Brause.
Brause also touches on students’ skills evolving each day and the screenings playing a great role in increasing a students skill level and describes the patient and student dynamic as a win-win.
Patients can call in and will have the option to attend a 9 a.m. slot, an 11 a.m. slot, or a 1 p.m. slot on a first come first serve basis.
Update 2/2/2024: This article was updated to fix a grammatical error
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