Dental Lab & Community Clinic
The low-cost resource at COCC provides collaborative dental care with hands-on learning
The modern, cutting-edge Dental Assisting facility at COCC mimics a clinical office setting. With eight individual operatories, each featuring its own dental chair, dedicated instruments and manikin patient, the open, airy space and its connected lab house a range of dental equipment and technology. At COCC, students train on the same tech they'll encounter in the workplace.
The lab is innovative in another way, too: Two Fridays per month during the school year, it doubles as a working-teaching Dental Clinic to serve those in need. Students can get hands-on training and help get smiles back on track.
"The Dental Clinic is often the first place the students get to assist a dentist and patient chairside. The pace is slower and more conducive to learning for the students than when they go on their practicum rotations in local dental offices. The clinic is as important for the Dental Assisting students as it is to the population that comes to the clinic for their dental care." — Dr. Mehdi Salari, Skyline Dental, COCC Dental Clinic volunteer dentist
Local dentists volunteer their time at the COCC Dental Clinic to see low-income patients with deferred dental work, with active assistance from Dental Assisting students. Students find a new stride through the clinic, immersing themselves in the work in their very first term while earning requisite clinical hours.
"It's been a win-win-win for students, patients, and dentists. We do an exam, X-ray, and the treatment. We have all our students and faculty there," says Dental Assisting program director Lynn Murray, who coordinates the clinic, adding that there is usually a Spanish-speaking staff member present. A typical clinic involves two volunteer dentists and sees 20 patients.
Any low-income adult in Central Oregon is eligible to visit the clinic. Appointments are made in advance with Deschutes County Community Resources; 541-322-7400. A $20 fee covers the cost of supplies. The clinic's history traces to 2005 when the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic of the Cascades merged its existing program with the College to create the COCC on-campus Dental Clinic.
