In recognition of Dental Hygiene Month, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Dental Hygiene Clinic is reminding the community of its various dental cleaning and preventive services, provided by undergraduate students in the Department of Dental Hygiene under the instruction of licensed dentist and dental hygienist faculty with the Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing.
Call (808) 956-8229 for more information or to make an appointment
As part of the teaching-learning process, the program provides services to patients throughout the academic year, from mid-September to mid-December in the fall, and January through April in the spring, on an appointment basis. About 1,800–2,400 patients are seen every year at the Dental Hygiene Clinic.
“The clinic is UH Mānoa’s only dental hygiene teaching facility that offers the high-quality, low-cost dental cleanings and preventive services to the university population and surrounding community,” said Alice Tse, professor and chair of the dental hygiene program. “By providing real-life dental hygiene care, dental hygiene students engage in high-impact practice for their success upon graduation. This engagement in actual service reinforces the concepts covered in the program’s curriculum and establishes UH Mānoa as a community partner.”
Michelle Leung, a third-year dental hygiene student, added, “There are a lot of learning experiences having a dental clinic housed in our program, and we get to provide an important health service to a variety of patients from the community who don’t have insurance.”
For a $25 nonrefundable cash fee, patients can receive basic dental hygiene and other optional dental procedures based on clinical and professional judgment of students and faculty.
Basic procedures include oral examination and charting, scaling and polishing of teeth, and patient education. Optional procedures include dental radiographs, application of topical fluoride and pit and fissure sealants, plaque control instruction, soft tissue curettage and root planing, selected periodontal procedures, administration of intraoral local anesthesia, study model impression taking, amalgam polishing, placement and removal of temporary restoration and periodontal dressing.
Information and appointments
Call (808) 956-8229 for more information or to make an appointment. The Dental Hygiene Clinic is located on the UH Mānoa campus near Campus Center at 2445 Campus Road, Hemenway Hall, Room 200. Patients must complete a medical/dental history form and be clinically screened prior to being issued an appointment.
