Clean teeth ... with time

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer

Cindy Tran, a second-year dental hygiene student, cleans the teeth of friend Jennifer Cam at the UH Dental Hygiene Clinic. The clinic charges a $25 flat rate. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser Walk-in clinic The Dental Hygiene Clinic does not accept phone appointments; screening is on a walk-in basis only, weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Room 201 of Hemenway Hall on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus.

"It's a very good service for the public," said Camilo, an OSHA standards consultant. And, he said, he'll be back.

The Dental Hygiene Clinic at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa is a little-known health bargain. Five days a week, eight hours a day, students here provide basic inexpensive dental care, including cleaning, polishing, the removal of calcified plaque, plus overall assessment of mouth, gum and teeth health, even if a procedure takes several appointments over several days.

And it may.

Student Mari Miyasaki encouraged her manager from the Longs Pharmacy in Manoa to come in for a cleaning, and he was delighted afterward, she said, bragging to friends at work, "Gee, you don't know what clean teeth are."

And he'll be back, she says, so she can finish the other half of his mouth. In the first four hours, she only did the first half.

"It just took really long," said the dental hygiene student in her first year of clinical practice. "I took eight hours on my brother."

That's the drawback of this inexpensive service: You need time in order to take advantage of it. All patients are first screened (on a walk-in basis only) and then appointments are scheduled that may take longer than usual because the students, of course, are learning.

But if you're time rich, and cash poor, this is the answer. The fee for any service - such as plaque removal - is $25, even if it takes multiple visits to complete the work. The students who do the check-ups and teeth-cleaning are enrolled in a four-year program to become dental hygienists. Patients are assigned to students based on the students' current level of training; those patients with incipient gum disease or heavy plaque deposits are assigned to more advanced students.

Carolyn Kuba, head of the Department of Dental Hygiene, which is part of the School of Nursing, said the dental clinic hasn't had an influx of outside patients; "It could very well be that they're unaware we exist."

While a clinic such as the one at the university is "a good starting point for anyone" who hasn't been to the dentist in a while, or is new to Hawai'i, Greer doesn't recommend it as the sole source of dental care for young children.

"We strongly suggest families establish a 'dental home' for their children by establishing a good relationship with a dentist."

However, the dental clinic can help provide care for those without dental insurance, said Greer, or those whose dental insurance plans might not provide two cleanings a year, which he and other dentists recommend. They do not, however, process insurance payments; it's strictly a cash service.

The time invested didn't bother Carrie Chandler, a 22-year-old student who had her teeth cleaned the other day.

It took almost three hours, "but she did a good job, and it's inexpensive."

But maybe it took long because she really needed it, admitted Chandler: "I haven't been to the dentist in a year."