Grant puts smiles on LCC faces.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Lane Community College will be able to almost double the number of students graduating from its dental hygiene program thanks to a $1.97 million federal grant.

The three-year grant will allow LCC to work with three colleges in Oregon and Idaho to set up satellite clinics to train additional students, and prepare and offer distance learning courses students can take to complete classroom work. The clinics will be set up through Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Umpqua Community College in Roseburg and Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.

LCC is able to graduate 20 dental hygiene students a year and will be able to increase that by 18 students with the grant.

Sharon Hagan, LCC's dental hygiene program coordinator, said the school has up to 90 applicants for the 20 slots it has available each year. All of the program's students have jobs when they graduate, and the state estimates that the profession will need 971 more hygienists over the 10-year period ending in 2014.

"There's great growth potential in this field because there will be people retiring, and Oregon's population is growing," Hagan said. "There is full employment for the students we have graduating right now, and we anticipate with the number of students we're taking in these other communities that there will be full employment there."

The new program will make use of clinics already in place at Linn-Benton, which has a six-chair clinic for its dental assisting program, and at Lewis-Clark State College, which recently received funding to build a clinic. A new clinic is expected to be built in Roseburg for the Umpqua class.

Students first must take 45 credits of science and general education classes before applying to the two-year dental hygiene program, which includes both classroom and clinical work. As with many specialized health care programs, the course is expensive to offer because colleges have to meet low student-faculty ratios to be accredited.

For dental hygiene, that means one faculty member for every six students, plus a staff dentist during clinical sessions. Tuition and state support don't cover the cost of the program, and that's made it difficult to expand it to meet the demand.

"We have an excellent facility, but we are unable to take additional students without hiring additional staff, and Lane's financial situation makes that impossible to do," Hagan said.

The grant is one of 72 projects funded by the federal Community-Based Job Training Grants Initiative. The grants are meant to boost the number of graduates in fast-growing occupations.

LCC's dental hygiene program draws students from as far away as Salem and Medford; it is the only program south of Portland and north of Klamath Falls. By providing opportunities for students in other regions, it is likely that more applicants from Lane County will be able to get into the slots available in LCC's program.

Hagan said she expects at least one and possibly two of the satellite clinics to be up and running this fall. The Idaho clinic won't open until 2008.

BRUSHING UP ON THE LCC DENTAL HYGIENE PROGRAM

Lane Community College received a federal grant worth $1.97 million over three years for its dental hygiene program.

Where the jobs are: Currently, 20 dental hygiene students graduate annually. With the grant, LCC will be able to increase that number with 18 additional graduates. The school has up to 90 applicants for the 20 slots and all of the program's students have jobs when they graduate. An estimated 971 more hygienists will be needed by 2014.

One of a kind: LCC's is the only dental hygiene program south of Portland and north of Klamath Falls.