Accredited dental hygiene program
Eastern Washington University
Dental Hygiene Dept, Health Sciences Building, 310 North Riverpoint Blvd, Box E - Room 160, Spokane, WA 99202
Eastern Washington University is a college in Spokane, WA with an accredited dental hygiene program. Hygiene students qualify by treating patients, so many programs open a teaching clinic to the public where a cleaning costs a fraction of the private price.
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
What a supervised hygiene clinic offers is the preventive side of dentistry — cleanings, deep cleaning, X-rays, gum health checks, fluoride, sealants, and coaching on technique.
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.
Each program sets its own price, usually well below a private practice, and some charge a single fee for the whole course of treatment. Check whether X-rays are part of it. 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, the total fee, and whether X-rays and follow-up visits are inside it, how long one appointment runs, and how many the treatment will take, whether children are treated, and from what age, and whether a screening or phone assessment comes first.
Term dates move these details around, which is why a call the week before is worth more than one a month ahead.
Common Questions
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.
What if I have not seen a dentist in years?
That is a common reason to come here and not a problem in itself — heavy build-up is exactly what students need to work on. Expect more than one appointment, and expect to be referred on if the examination finds decay, since that is a dentist’s job.
Is the clinic open all year?
Usually not. Teaching clinics follow the academic calendar, so many close over the summer and between terms, and appointments are scarce early in the year while students are still building up their skills. Booking several weeks ahead is normal.
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.
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 Washington instead.
Accreditation
Status: Approval without Reporting Requirements, next reviewed in 2033. 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 Washington
Washington has 11 accredited dental hygiene programs altogether. If this one is full or the wait is too long, the others are separate institutions with separate lists:
- Bellingham Technical College — Bellingham
- Lake Washington Institute of Technology — Kirkland
- Pierce College — Lakewood
- Columbia Basin College — Pasco
- Peninsula College — Port Angeles
The full Washington list has the rest.
Other Low-Cost Options in Washington
- Community health center dental clinics in Washington — where to go for anything a hygienist cannot do. Fees follow your income rather than a price list.
- Dental schools in Washington — the reduced-cost route for real treatment. Expect a screening visit first and a course of work measured in months.
- Free and charitable dental care in Washington — volunteer and donated-care programs, with eligibility rules and limited places.
- Washington 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
- Bellingham Technical College — Bellingham, WA
- Clark College — Vancouver, WA
- Columbia Basin College — Pasco, WA
- Lake Washington Institute of Technology — Kirkland, WA
- Peninsula College — Port Angeles, WA