Dental Hygiene

Our Mission

The mission of the Department of Dental Hygiene is to prepare culturally sensitive future leaders in the dental hygiene profession to provide competent, compassionate care and assume positions of responsibility and leadership in the professional roles of the dental hygienist. The department promotes a positive and rewarding academic environment that fosters innovation and collaboration for students, faculty and staff.

Our vision is to be an international model for oral healthcare education that prepares tomorrow’s healthcare leaders who contribute to global research, advocate for change and transform the profession.

Core Values:

• Collaboration
• Ethics
• Innovation
• Lifelong Learning
• Positive Mindset
• Professionalism
• Respect

About Our Clinic

• Our clinic delivers the equivalent of almost $500,000 in quality, low-cost dental care every year. We serve indigent, low income and underserved and noninsured populations in the Spokane area.
• We provide preventive dental hygiene treatment annually for almost 5,084 patients. Last year we served 1,878 senior citizens, 118 children and 3,088 adults. We saw 1,576 public assistance patients and 159 Delta Dental of Washington patients in 2017. We treated 14 Recovering Smiles patients.
• We provide low-cost, quality restorative dental services to over 1,126 patients annually.
• Each year, we provide high-quality caries preventive services. We apply topical fluorides to most patients, fluoride varnish to nearly 1,000 patients and sealants to around 50 patients.

Third Party Comments for CODA Site Visit April 2026

The United States Department of Education (USDE) procedures require accrediting agencies to provide an opportunity for third-party comment, either in writing or at a public hearing (at the accrediting agencies’ discretion) with respect to institutions or programs scheduled for review.  All comments must relate to accreditation standards for the discipline and required accreditation policies.

Those programs scheduled for regular review must solicit third-party comments through appropriate notification of communities of interest and the public such as faculty, students, program administrators, dental-related organizations, patients, and consumers at least ninety (90) days prior to their site visit.  EWU Dental Hygiene Site visit will occur on April 14-15, 2026. The deadline of sixty (60) days for receipt of third-party comments in the Commission office will be February 1, 2026.

Signed or unsigned comments will be accepted, and names and/or signatures will be removed from comments prior to forwarding them to the program. Comments must pertain only to the standards for the particular program or policies and procedures used in the Commission’s accreditation process. 

A copy of the appropriate accreditation standards and/or the Commission’s policy on third-party comments may be obtained by contacting the Commission by calling 1-312-440-4653 or emails for CODA staff can be found at https://coda.ada.org/about-coda/coda-staff.

Please see the form below for complete details about the solicitation process for third party comments.

EWU DH Third Party Comments Form

Please refer to CODA’s website for any further question or contact information you may need.

https://coda.ada.org/site-visits/third-party-comments