Kids get free teeth cleaning at Cape Cod Community College to give dental students practice
A program at Cape Cod Community College in Massachusetts is bringing free teeth cleaning to children on the Cape during their school vacation week.
At the Wilkens Family Dental Hygiene Clinic at Cape Cod Community College, every day is a learning opportunity.
Students get to work on actual patients
"I love the light bulb moments of learning, I love watching them surprise themselves and skill build and then start to go from working on a tooth model to all the way up to live patients," said faculty member Lauren Cisternino.
The school is hosting its annual Children's Dental Health Week during February vacation. First-year students are getting the chance to hone their skills on real patients as they get ready to enter the workforce.
"I'm excited to have some clinic patients. It's nice they give us that opportunity, because that's going to be the real world," said dental student Shyanne Fabiano.
The week focuses on all things oral care, even how nutrition can impact dental health; taking the time to explain procedures to patients.
"We are prevention specialists, so healthier patients are easier to treat," said Cisternino. "Especially on the Cape and Islands. There are significant barriers to finding care currently. There's long waiting lists for particularly Mass Health offices, so we really like to be that opportunity to do oral health screenings to kind of be their first initiation sometimes into dental care."
"Serving a real need"
And while patients are getting quality care and attention, so are the students.
"My favorite thing is it's mutually beneficial. Students need this experience to be able to learn and eventually go on to licensure etc., and we're also serving a real need," said Cisternino.
Thanks to grant funding and a host of cutting-edge technology, the school is hopeful that the program will continue to build connections with the community.
"We are a little off the beaten path, but we're here to serve the community and we're excited to see the program grow," said program director Marianne Dryer.
The clinic will also be offering the same program over April break for children. The clinic also offers discounted rates for adults during regular hours.
