You can get a $10 teeth cleaning from this dental program in Johnson County

If you’ve been putting off getting your teeth cleaned because you don’t have dental insurance, Johnson County Community College has an option for you. A spot at the school’s dental hygiene program clinic costs just $10 per appointment.

Anyone can apply to be a patient at the clinic, though you’re not guaranteed a spot. During the spring semester, the clinic runs four days a week. For the fall semester, it’s available two days a week.

For Carrie Hanson, director of JCCC’s dental hygiene program, it’s a win-win situation. Her students get the practice clinic hours they need, and the community gets an additional resource.

“Having the JCCC Dental Hygiene Clinic also allows for people from community that might not be able to afford oral hygiene care to be able to be treated here in our clinic,” Hanson said.

The hygienist students who work at the clinic are in a two-year program. Their first semester, they practice on each other. The following three semesters, they each work two days a week in the clinic.

When you apply to be a patient, the form you fill out helps them decide if you’re a patient who needs a simple cleaning or if you might need a more extensive treatment plan. Students must see a certain number of both types of patients each term.

For every four students, there’s one faculty member overseeing their work. Patients do need to have some patience — an appointment can last about 3 1/2 because students work slower and then need their faculty supervisor to check all their work.

“I love watching the students grow in their skills and interactions with patients, just that rapport they learn how to develop with the patients: how to talk to them, how to address their questions. They’re learning all of that,” Hanson said.

Hanson said that with their standard appointment checklist, they’ve even caught high blood pressure problems that patients didn’t know they had.

Once they’ve finished your treatment plan, if you want to be seen again in the future, you have to reapply for a spot.

Hanson said their clients are all ages, from 4-year-olds to seniors, and come from all over the metro area. The college offers interpretation services for anyone who doesn’t speak English.

The clinic has lots of high-tech equipment, such as a Cavitron that removes plaque with water, so that students get a chance to work with a variety of tools.

Student Jacqueline Cook is in her last semester of the dental hygiene program and says she really has enjoyed her time working in the clinic.

“Even though (the days are) unpredictable, I love treatment portions of clinic, because not only are we seeing what individual patients need, we’re able to specifically address a patient’s complaint,” Cook said.

She especially likes the clinic’s approach to educating patients.

“Instead of telling them, ‘This is what you need. Bye,’ we’re able to say, ‘Hey, these are the options, and this is why this is what we would recommend. What do you think?’ That way it gives the community a little bit more access to care and education that is not typical in the real world and in private practice,” she said.

Cook has seen 35 patients since she started in the program.

Some patients have more in-depth needs, such treating plaque deposits below the gum line. That can take three or four appointments, doing one quadrant of the mouth each time.

While the clinic does X-rays, fluoride treatments, regular cleanings and deep cleanings, it does not do restorations such as fillings or other complicated dental work. They do help patient find other low- or no-cost clinics if they need such work done.

When she was growing up, Cook said she didn’t have dental insurance and didn’t know places like the JCCC clinic existed.

“For me, being in the program now, that is an immense resource that I tell all of my friends, my loved ones, friends of friends, that these places exist, because it’s not something that’s broadcast very widely in our area,” she said.

To get more information about applying for an appointment, go to jccc.edu/community-resources/dental-hygiene-clinic or call (913) 469-3808.