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NANTICOKE — No insurance? No problem.
February is Children’s Dental Health Month and, regardless of insurance status, young and old can benefit from a dental clinic in the city. The Benco Dental Health Clinic makes it easier and cheaper to obtain services, including x-rays, sealant, oral cancer exams and other preventive procedures. Services are performed by dental students from Luzerne County Community College.
The clinic charges $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens 62 and over and $5 for children under 18 — but it does take “up to three hours” for an appointment.
“The drawback is the time,” said Julie Cleary, professor of dental health programs at LCCC. First-year students, Cleary admitted, could take longer than normal but, for second-year students, the time for an appointment is just about two hours.
“It depends on the amount of work being done,” Cleary said.
The 24-chair clinic, first opened in 2011, is located on the first floor of the Francis S. and Mary Gill Carrozza Health Science Center, 42 E. Main St. Cleary said the new clinic is “more up-to-date” than the former clinic which only housed 16 chairs.
“We can accept (a combined first and second year total of) 36 students,” Cleary said.
The clinic requires the dental hygiene students to pass their boards and boasts a “99 percent passing rate in the first exam.”
First-year student Caitlin McDermott “knew I wanted to do it (become a dental hygienist)” and is grateful to have the opportunity close to home.
“I’m from here,” McDermott said. “I want to stay around here.”
Those who attend the clinic are asked to realize “it’s a learning environment” and that includes stacks of paperwork and an evaluation of procedures done by “a licensed dentist and dental hygienists.”
Though the students perform digital x-rays and can email files to the patient’s dentist, by doing a panoramic full mouth x-ray, students learn “old and new techniques.” The clinic has a darkroom to teach students about traditional x-rays.
Unlike dentists, Cleary said the clinic doesn’t do restorative work — like fixing cavities or root canals; it only offers preventive treatments.
As a requirement to pass their clinics, students need patients to sign up and go through the full exam.
“Take advantage (of the clinic),” McDermott said.
Patients of all ages, as well as patients with or without teeth, can have a complete exam with students and instructors.
Second-year students are in clinic 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Fridays; first-year students are in clinic starting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and starting at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays. Make an appointment by calling 570-740-0446.