Changes on Campus: Fones School of Dental Hygiene

Those students who have already taken advantage of the unbelievably cheap price of a dental cleaning (five dollars) at our school of dental hygiene, have experienced the services first hand of the ninety dental hygiene students currently enrolled in the clinic on campus. Upon speaking with the school’s clinic director, Meg Zayan, several facts have been revealed as she stated, “We’re not seeing the numbers we’d like to see,” but then explained that they have grown at least three times in the past five years and plans are underway for more significant growth.
With roughly 90 students in the Associate Degree clinical program and about another 80 in the Bachelor’s Degree section, 170 does not sound like a huge number, but it is a great growth compared to the numbers from five years ago. There are plans for growth in the department both in faculty and facilities. The tripled student population in the school has prompted the addition of four new staff. Two of which were hired three years ago include Laura Greco and Karen Williams, and two others that have been at the university for two years include Katherine Russell and Wendy Grove. These additions are expected to continue especially with the proposal to construct a second dental clinic on the fifth floor of Health Services Building/Warner Hall. While budget concerns are holding that proposal back, the dental hygiene school has the full support of the administration for the addition once funds are available. With the addition of the second clinic, the total number of stations will be doubled to sixty (thirty in each clinic) in order to serve both the students working on their clinic requirements as well as the general student population in any cleanings or examinations they might inquire about.
Another point that Director Zayan brought up was the concern to differentiate between dental hygiene and dentistry, as her department only offers programs in the first. She explained that the dental hygiene program offered here at UB deals solely in preventive dentistry such as examinations and cleanings with some x-ray work. If a case arises that requires fillings or advanced dentistry, a referral note is made out to the patient’s dentist for further treatment. In short, dental hygiene includes preventive cleanings while dentistry goes further to include reconstructive treatments. The school at the University of Bridgeport only deals in dental hygiene, but a small percentage of the graduates of the program have continued on to achieve full dentistry degrees from schools like University of Connecticut, Temple University, and University of North Carolina.
As far as the services offered by the Fones School of Dental Hygiene, any UB student can have a full cleaning for only five dollars, which is a great price compared to the cost of professional dental clinics. The only downside is that the full exam takes three or more hours and first time patients may have to come for two visits. So, if you can fit it into your schedule, it is certainly worth the small payment of five dollars. The only additional cost is for x-rays and there is always the possibility that those might not even be required if the preliminary examination does not reveal a need for them.