This coming fall MCCC is planning to open its own dental program on the college’s Trenton campus. The college is partnering with Kindersmile, a local dental provider that serves low-income families.
The new program will be held in the new Health and Wellness Education Center across from the James Kerney Campus on 101 North Broad Street in downtown Trenton.
According to Gonzalo Perez, the Dean for the Division for Lifelong Learning, the dental program will be broken into three sub-programs. The first program focuses on being a dental assistant. Going forward students would then need a radiography certification and finally, wrap up their experience by pursuing the dental hygienist associate’s degree.
In terms of what this program means to students, Perez says, “They can make up to $75,000 per year,” if they go into the profession.
This amount is close to what is posted on both Indeed.com and Salary.com where the average salary of dental hygienists in New Jersey is listed respectively $83,000 and $83,441.
MCCC President Dr. Jianping Wang says, “I believe in the college’s role in revitalizing the capital city” and added, “I felt that there was a need for health and wellness education in Trenton.”
Health Professions Dean Kevin Duffy says, “With the class size itself we’re going to start probably around 10 to 15 students.”
Dean Duffy says, “The dental program makes a world of sense because it operates as what they call a dental home, which I love because it’s free services to the community.”
According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists, “The dental home is the ongoing relationship between the dentist and the patient, inclusive of all aspects of oral health care delivered in a comprehensive, continuously accessible, coordinated, and family-centered way.”
Dr. Nicole McGrath-Barnes, founder and CEO of Kindersmile says, “We’re just excited to be here and just to create more job opportunities. We look forward to a long term partnership with Mercer County Community College.”
On its website, KinderSmile describes its Oral Health Program (KSOHP) as “the flagship program of our nonprofit foundation. With values of education, intervention and prevention as methods to combat oral health care inequity, KSOHP increases access to dental care for underserved children ages 0-18, regardless of insurance status, by bringing dental care to schools or community centers at no cost to caretakers or the school system.”
McGrath-Barnes says the goal is “Helping to increase oral care access for the community and also to increase job opportunities.”
