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PRCC gives free dental care to area students
HATTIESBURG _ Pearl River Community College dental hygiene students honed their skills and about 40 children walked away with clean teeth Friday during the annual Give Kids A Smile Day.
The first_year dental hygiene students examined the kids’ teeth, cleaned them and showed the children from the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club the correct ways to brush and floss.
"The thing they cleaned my teeth with tickled," said Kaylin Adams, an 8_year_old second grade student at Grace Christian Elementary School.
PRCC has partnered with the South Mississippi Dental Society for five or six years on the project, said Dr. Stan Hill, director of PRCC’s dental hygiene program.
"It’s a great learning experience for our students and a service to the Boys and Girls Club," he said. "Any patient contact is a good experience."
The event offers dentists, who check the students’ work, a chance to give back to the community, said Dr. Lana Clarke of Hattiesburg Family Dental Care.
"Because Dr. Stan Hill and Pearl River Community College allow us to use their clinic, we can see many kids at one time," she said.
Also helping with the project were Dr. Christy Head of Smiles Ahead Orthodontics in Hattiesburg and Dr. Roddy Scarborough, whose practice is in Richton.
"Because we’re just getting into clinicals, it was a great experience practicing the polishing," said PRCC student Liberty Lessard of Biloxi. "It’s not as easy as it looks."
Students in the two_year dental hygiene program gain practical experience at the PRCC clinic, but most of the patients are adults.
"It was good to work with children and explain oral hygiene on their level," PRCC student Sarah Smith of Hattiesburg said.
The clinic in the Allied Health Center at the PRCC Forrest County Center offers exams, x_rays, cleaning, sealants, fluoride treatments and oral cancer screenings. Cost is $25 for adults, $20 for children and free to PRCC students. For appointments, telephone 601 554_5509.