Pikes Peak State College

Pikes Peak State College runs an accredited dental hygiene program in Colorado Springs, CO. 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

Accreditation

Status: Initial Accreditation, next reviewed in 2027. 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 Colorado

Colorado has 7 accredited dental hygiene programs altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:

• Concorde Career College- Denver — Aurora
• Community College of Denver — Denver
• Colorado Mountain College — Edwards
• Front Range Community College — Fort Collins
• Pueblo Community College — Pueblo

The full Colorado list has the rest.

Other Low-Cost Options in Colorado

• Community health center dental clinics in Colorado — where to go for anything a hygienist cannot do. Fees follow your income rather than a price list.
• Dental schools in Colorado — 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 Colorado — 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.