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.