Accredited dental hygiene program
Mohave College
Dental Department, 1971 Jagerson Avenue, Kingman, AZ 86401
Mohave College runs an accredited dental hygiene program in Kingman, AZ. Students train by working on real patients, which is why programs like this often run a low-cost clinic that anyone can book into.
What matters most before you make the trip is scope. Dental hygienists are trained in preventive and gum care, so a hygiene clinic can clean your teeth thoroughly and treat gum disease, but it cannot fill a cavity, pull a tooth, or fit a crown. If something hurts, this is not the place to start.
What a Hygiene Clinic Can and Cannot Do
Hygiene students are trained in preventive and gum care, so a teaching clinic covers cleanings, deep cleaning for gum disease, X-rays, gum assessments, fluoride, sealants, and technique coaching.
What it does not offer is anything a dentist must do: fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions, dentures, implants, or emergency treatment. If the examination finds a cavity or a broken tooth, the clinic will tell you and refer you on, but the treatment happens elsewhere. If a tooth hurts now, start somewhere else.
Prices vary program by program but sit well below private practice, and a flat fee covering every appointment is common. X-rays may or may not be included — worth asking. Appointments run long, two to three hours is normal, and clinics follow the academic year, so many close over the summer and between terms.
Before You Call
The patient clinic runs on its own hours and its own line, usually from a different building than the one the college address points at. Worth settling on the phone: whether the clinic is open to the public this term, and taking new patients, which payment methods are accepted, and whether insurance can be billed, how far ahead they are booking, and whether there is a cancellation list, whether children are treated, and from what age, and what to bring — identification, medication list, previous X-rays.
Hours and fees change from one term to the next, so confirm shortly before you go rather than relying on a page read weeks earlier.
Common Questions
How long will the appointment take?
Two to three hours is normal, and some programs split what a private hygienist would finish in one visit across two. The student works carefully and stops for an instructor to check the work, often more than once. Allow the whole morning or afternoon.
I have a cavity or a broken tooth. Can they fix it?
No. That is dental treatment and it needs a dentist; a hygienist is not licensed to do it. The clinic can identify the problem and tell you what it is, but the repair has to happen elsewhere. If a tooth hurts now, start with community health centers in Arizona instead.
What if this clinic cannot see me?
Other low-cost routes exist in Kingman, AZ. community health centers in Arizona discount fees by household income and provide full dental care rather than preventive work alone. For treatment a hygienist cannot do, dental schools in Arizona are the other reduced-cost option. Both are linked further down this page.
Can I use this instead of seeing a dentist at all?
Not really. A hygiene clinic maintains the teeth you have; it cannot diagnose and treat what goes wrong with them. Think of it as the cheap way to keep up preventive care, alongside a dentist you see when something needs fixing.
Can I get a filling at the same visit?
No. Fillings are outside a hygienist’s scope entirely, so even a small cavity found during your cleaning has to be treated somewhere else. Plan for two separate appointments at two separate places if you suspect you need one.
Can I be turned away?
Some programs screen patients first, by phone or at a short visit, to check the case suits the students’ stage of training. Heavy deposits or advanced gum disease may be assigned to a more experienced student or referred out. It is not personal; it is a teaching schedule.
Accreditation
Status: Approval without Reporting Requirements, next reviewed in 2028. Accreditation covers the teaching — curriculum, facilities and faculty — not whether a public clinic is open, what it charges, or how long the wait is.
Other Accredited Hygiene Programs in Arizona
Arizona has 8 accredited dental hygiene programs altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:
- Northern Arizona University — Flagstaff
- Carrington College - Mesa — Mesa
- Mesa Community College — Mesa
- Phoenix College — Phoenix
- Pima Medical Institute-Phoenix — Phoenix
The full Arizona list has the rest.
Other Low-Cost Options in Arizona
- Community health center dental clinics in Arizona — where to go for anything a hygienist cannot do. Fees follow your income rather than a price list.
- Dental schools in Arizona — cheaper than private practice for large amounts of work, slower than everything else, and selective about which cases they take.
- Free and charitable dental care in Arizona — volunteer and donated-care programs, with eligibility rules and limited places.
- How sliding-scale clinics work — who qualifies for an income-based discount and how to apply for one.
Other Dental Hygiene Programs Nearby
- Carrington College - Mesa — Mesa, AZ
- Mesa Community College — Mesa, AZ
- Northern Arizona University — Flagstaff, AZ
- Phoenix College — Phoenix, AZ
- Pima Community College — Tucson, AZ