Starting in February, the University Health Center will again have a dental clinic as the result of a tentative agreement with the University of Maryland’s dental school in Baltimore.
The dental school will provide all of the clinic’s equipment and staff, which will consist of a clinical director and dental residents – graduates of the dental school who do not have their own practice yet. The cost to this university will be minimal because the health center will only be managing appointments, billing and utilities.
“Our budget really won’t be affected at all,” said Sacared Bodison, the health center’s director.
Three days a week, the clinic will offer basic comprehensive dental care, which includes removing wisdom teeth, teeth-cleaning, root canals, fillings and any emergency dental care, said Douglas Barnes, the director of advanced general dentistry at the dental school in Baltimore.
The dental school agreed to finance the clinic so its students gain working experience, Barnes said. It is also to establish a closer relationship between Baltimore and this campus, because so many College Park undergraduates apply to the dental school.
“We had the program in College Park before, and it was very worthwhile … so I thought maybe we should do it again,” said Barnes, who negotiated re-opening the clinic.
The original dental clinic – run by the Baltimore Dental School, opened in 1982 and served about 150 to 200 students per month – was closed in June 2003 as a result of budget cuts.
Since then, half of the health center’s ground floor is empty, awaiting the return of the university’s dental clinic. In 2003, the university had promised $1 million to renovate the health center. When they did not deliver, health center officials were forced to eliminate the dental clinic, a move that upset former health center director Dr. Maggie Bridwell and led to her resignation.
“We all felt badly when it was temporarily suspended … students really missed the opportunity,” said Pat Johnston, health education coordinator.
The new clinic’s services will cost less for students than those of private practices, ranging from a third to a half off, Barnes said.
Since the clinic closed, the health center referred students to dental practices in the area. College Park Dental, one of the practices the health center recommends to students, charges $220 for a basic check-up.
Students will be billed directly to their student account and will have to submit the bill to their insurance provider, a similar procedure to paying for services such as X-rays and lab testing. This past summer Bodison decided to no longer offer dental insurance through the university’s healthcare plan because of the rising health insurance costs for students.
Contact reporter Ben Block at blockdbk@gmail.com.
