Accredited dental hygiene program
Montgomery County Community College
340 Dekalb Pike P.O. Box 400, Blue Bell, PA 19422-0758
In Blue Bell, PA, Montgomery County Community College trains dental hygienists in an accredited program. Because the training is hands-on, many programs operate a public clinic where preventive care is priced well below a private dental office.
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.
Common Questions
Is it painful?
A deep clean on inflamed gums can be uncomfortable, and hygienists use local anesthetic for scaling and root planing where it is needed. Say at the start if you are sensitive; students are taught to work with that and have the time to go slowly.
Why is it so much cheaper?
Because you are part of the training. Students need patients to qualify, and the clinic exists to give them that experience under supervision. The trade is your time for their practice, which is why the appointment is long and the price is low.
Do I need a referral?
Usually not — most programs take patients directly. What they do commonly ask for is a health history and a list of current medications, and a few need clearance from your physician for particular conditions before treatment.
Can they treat gum disease?
Yes, within a hygienist’s scope: scaling and root planing, sometimes called deep cleaning, is core hygiene work and is normally spread over more than one appointment. Advanced gum disease needing surgery is referred to a dentist or periodontist.
What if this clinic cannot see me?
Other low-cost routes exist in Blue Bell, PA. community health centers in Pennsylvania discount fees by household income and provide full dental care rather than preventive work alone. For treatment a hygienist cannot do, dental schools in Pennsylvania are the other reduced-cost option. Both are linked further down this page.
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.
What a Hygiene Clinic Can and Cannot Do
The work here is preventive: scaling and polishing, scaling and root planing for gum disease, X-rays, gum measurements, fluoride treatment, sealants, and hygiene instruction.
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.
Fees are set by each program and are typically well under private rates, sometimes as one flat charge covering however many visits the treatment takes. Ask whether X-rays are included, because they are often billed separately. 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 clinic is rarely at the address the college publishes for itself — it is normally in the health sciences building, with a separate line and separate hours. Worth settling on the phone: where the clinic entrance is, and where to park, which payment methods are accepted, and whether insurance can be billed, whether a screening or phone assessment comes first, whether children are treated, and from what age, and how long one appointment runs, and how many the treatment will take.
All of it can change with the academic term, so check again close to the day.
Accreditation
Status: Approval without Reporting Requirements, next reviewed in 2028. It reviews the program every few years against a national standard for teaching. Patient access, fees and waiting times are outside what it looks at.
Other Accredited Hygiene Programs in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has 13 accredited dental hygiene programs altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:
- Northampton Community College — Bethlehem
- Harcum College — Bryn Mawr
- All-State Career School — Essington
- Harrisburg Area Community College — Harrisburg
- Manor College — Jenkintown
The full Pennsylvania list has the rest.
Other Low-Cost Options in Pennsylvania
- Community health center dental clinics in Pennsylvania — these treat what a hygiene clinic can only diagnose, and they discount by household income.
- Dental schools in Pennsylvania — teaching clinics that do handle fillings, root canals, extractions and dentures at reduced cost, usually after a screening visit.
- Free and charitable dental care in Pennsylvania — volunteer and donated-care programs, with eligibility rules and limited places.
- Pennsylvania state oral health program — the health department office behind school sealant programs and safety-net dental services in the state.
- How sliding-scale clinics work — who qualifies for an income-based discount and how to apply for one.
Other Dental Hygiene Programs Nearby
- All - State Career School — Essington, PA
- Community College of Philadelphia — Philadelphia, PA
- Fortis Institute — Scranton, PA
- Harcum College — Bryn Mawr, PA
- Harrisburg Area Community College — Harrisburg, PA