UH approves mobile
dental unit for Maui

A Maui Community College program to enhance student training and dental services for economically disadvantaged residents of the island has been approved by the University of Hawaii regents.

The college's Maui Oral Health Initiative involves operation of the Maui Oral Health Center in Wailuku and mobilization of a retrofitted Mobile Dental Van to serve as a dental clinic.

A Dental Assisting Certificate Program also is offered that involves hiring dentists to provide services and serve as faculty.

MCC Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto said the Oral Health Initiative demonstrates the college's commitment to students and the community.

The college worked with the Maui County Dental Society to create a dental assisting curriculum after a survey of the county's dentists in August 2001. About 95 percent cited a shortage of dental assistants, and 94 percent a shortage of dental hygienists.

The Certificate of Dental Assisting was accredited in January by the American Dental Association Commission.

The Maui Oral Health Center has been operating since August 2002 as a classroom and clinical site for dental assistant students. It is serving about 300 patients a month and has a waiting list of more than 500 children and 288 adults.

The fully equipped Mobile Care Dental Van is serving as an additional clinical site for the Dental Assisting Program, which has 18 full-time students, while providing dental services for residents.

Dr. Daniel Mayeda is dental director for the Maui Oral Health Initiative and an instructor in the Dental Assisting Program.