UNLV’s dental school provides affordable dental care to Las Vegas community
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The University of Nevada Las Vegas’ School of Dental Medicine is changing lives one smile at a time by providing affordable dental care to the Las Vegas community. Residents who have no insurance and need dental care can get it at the university for a fraction of the price.
“There’s a lot of barriers to care especially in the dental world,” said fourth-year dental student Kaiko Perkins. “Most (people) don’t have dental insurance, especially in the state of Nevada… so having a school here is really important for the community.”
UNLV’s program is the only accredited dental school in Nevada. Through its community outreach program, the school offers multiple low-cost and no-cost on-site clinics dedicated to children, women, veterans, indigent, and homeless persons. The dental school sees more than 70,000 patients each year.
“There’s actually very little, if any care, for that segment of the population, so we strive to cater to as broad and diverse population in Southern Nevada as we can,” said Dr. James Mah, interim dean for the dental school. “In the span of eight years, we provided approximately $3.5 million of free care to just those groups.”
“Approximately 97% of the time we get the care clinically acceptable, satisfactory, or even outright excellent — that is on par with a private practice in the greater Las Vegas area,” said Dr. Jay Morgenstern, assistant professor-in-residence and interim co-assistant dean of clinical service.
Services at UNLV’s dental school include general, orthodontic, pediatric, urgent, and cosmetic. Procedures range from simple like crown and cavity fillings to more complex work including decay and gum disease. Morgenstern says care is often offered at a reduced price somewhere between 30 to 45% less than market prices.
“They may have seen dentists outside and they were given treatment plans that were $10,000 (or) $20,000 and they obviously just can’t afford that,” Morgenstern said.
“A lot of the bacteria that we introduce into our mouths or that exist there naturally can affect your overall body and your overall health so taking care of your mouth first thing will help not only improve the quality of your teeth but the quality of your life,” said fourth-year dental student Tyler Pisciotta.
Any child under the age of 18 who is uninsured and needs dental care can be seen at UNLV’s dental clinic for free. If you are interested in being a patient, you must go through a screening process. For more information on services, visit this link.
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