Drop in to the SCTCC on-campus Dental Clinic this semester, and you’ll find students getting ready for that day’s patients. Instructor Kami Burgess preps Dental Hygiene students in a classroom while instructor Kateri Mayer checks on Dental Assisting students at patient stations. Patients are already in the waiting room, ready for their appointments.
When the patients start to come back, a student from each program pulls up a chair for the appointment, working together to do x-rays, a cleaning, complete paperwork, and connect with a dentist. While you might think this is common, this is actually the first semester for this collaboration between programs. It’s also the first time it’s been done in the Minnesota State colleges.
“We’re committed to making this work because we know what they’re going to see when they leave here,” Burgess shared.
Traditionally, dental assistants will work with dentists and not often with hygienists. But in the past ten years or so, dental offices have needed to get creative with staffing due to fewer hygienists in the workforce by using a model called assisted hygiene.
When a dental assistant can help a dental hygienist within their scope, a hygienist can see 50% more patients per day. Dentists have been doing work normally done by hygienists; assistants who normally assist with dentist procedures are now helping with hygienist procedures.
With this shift in the field, instructors at SCTCC started exploring how they could better prepare students for what they’re going to experience in a dental office. Because each program’s curriculum is delivered differently, there’s only one semester where they can learn together.
“We’ve worked the last five or six years to make this happen. This semester, it was time to jump in,” Burgess explained.
The first three weeks, students in both programs collaborated with each other to learn how to communicate and work at patient stations. Then they started seeing patients.
“I’m really hoping this builds camaraderie and teamwork, that they can really learn from each other. It’s been fun to watch them work together and have light bulb moments.”
Emily Weinreis is a Dental Hygiene student who already earned her Dental Assistant degree and has been in the field. “This is really great because when you’re in assisting school, you’re taught that you will work with others, but in school, you only learn with another assisting student. Then you go to the office, and you don’t really know what that looks like.”
When Weinreis worked as an assistant, she noticed the shortage. When she was assisting a dentist who had their procedure under control, she would often be asked to help out hygienists who were running behind. “I would polish and floss, get their goody bag ready to go, and help them out the door.”
After working in the field, she decided she wanted more one-on-one care and experience with patients, so Weinreis applied to the Dental Hygienist program. Her experience has helped her, but she knows the benefit of students in the two programs having a shared learning experience.
“As an assistant, we learn what the dentist is doing because we’re helping the dentist most of the time,” shared JuliAnna Driscoll, a Dental Assisting student. “It’s a great opportunity before we go to an actual office, seeing what the hygienist does and that we do a lot of the same things like flossing and mechanical polishes.”
Both Weinreis and Driscoll feel the collaboration in the classroom will help prepare them for the dental office. In new careers, everyone has a level of training, but this is one item they can check off their lists.
Ultimately, the collaboration is about making sure patients get the best dental care. With the right planning, instructors were able to find a way to prepare students for their careers in dental offices and provide a better patient experience.
“I see these models working. It’s something we have to do to make sure people can get care,” said Burgess. “I’m really proud of our group for trying something new and being willing to tackle it. The reward we’re going to get from this is the students’ experience and what they’re going to be able to take with them with they leave.”