ST. GEORGE — The Dental Hygiene program is a prime example of Utah Tech’s mission to provide active and applied learning, and they do so through helping the community.
Each semester the program accepts 24 new students who have completed their general core classes. Those accepted, according to the Dental Hygiene program website, participate in “a full-time, two-year curriculum where students are instructed in the theoretical knowledge and clinical skills essential for dental hygiene practice.”
Through the courses offered, students engage in a public Dental Hygiene Clinic where they provide care to real patients who otherwise might not have access to dental care.
Brenda Armstrong, the program’s department chair, told St. George News it is a “win-win situation.”
“We see patients from the community who often lack access to care, and so while they are getting professional dental hygiene care, our students are learning,” Armstrong said.
The students, under the supervision of licensed faculty, provide services at the school’s public dental hygiene clinic as well as travel around St. George on a mobile dental clinic bus where they provide oral hygiene education. The students help teach patients at the cancer center, children at elementary schools and other students preparing to become CNAs.
Brooklyn Olsen, a senior in the dental hygiene program, said the variety of patients she’s seen has helped her feel prepared to move into the workforce when she graduates. She has also had the opportunity to teach youth as well as other students in medical programs about oral health.
“It’s definitely a learning experience for us as well as the people we teach because we have to prepare and we have to be confident enough to teach them,” Olsen said.
Armstrong added that the students are taught to be advocates for oral health and that their senior capstone projects reflect that.
Each senior is required to find a partner in the community and assess their specific oral health needs. The student then proposes an oral health education program, designs it and implements it.
“Essentially you have 24 students going out into Washington County to populations who would like to learn more about oral health care,” Armstrong said.
During the spring semester, the Dental Hygiene Clinic is open for appointments Monday-Thursday. To make an appointment, call 435-879-4900.
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