News about Dental Hygiene

Event Provides Free Dental Care to Service Members, Their Families

Providing dental hygiene services are (from left): Allison D. Bailey, a student from West Chester; Samantha J. Diehl, a student from East Berlin; Paige N. Spicher, a registered dental hygienist who graduated from Penn College in 2017; and, in second exam area, Courtney E. Bashwinger, a student from Levittown.

Pennsylvania College of Technology dental hygiene students, joined by local hygienists and dentists who volunteered their time, provided free dental hygiene services to 29 current or veteran members of the armed services and their family members.

The 35 students who provided “Service Saturday” treatments on April 14 are in the Community Dental Health course, taught by Kim A. Speicher, assistant professor of dental hygiene. Each year, the class provides community service to a population in need, Speicher explained.

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Free Dental Hygiene Services for Vets, Their Families Set for April 14

Penn College will provide free dental hygiene services to veterans, members of the armed services and their dependents on April 14. Available services include exams, cleanings, X-rays, fluoride treatments and oral health education, as well as sealants for eligible children.

Pennsylvania College of Technology will provide free dental hygiene services to veterans, members of the armed services and their dependents on Saturday, April 14.

Available services include exams, cleanings, X-rays, fluoride treatments and oral health education, as well as sealants for eligible children.

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Health Sciences Team Owns ‘Breakout’ Session

Conquering the interactive challenge of Williamsport Escapes are (clockwise, from bottom left) Zeel Patel, a pre-nursing student from Bensalem; Long; Traister; Cera N. Blunk, a physician assistant major from Schuylkill Haven; Emily K. Conklin, a pre-dental hygiene student from Port Allegany; and Constance J. Plankenhorn, of Williamsport, enrolled in physician assistant studies.

The Health Sciences Living-Learning Community participated in an activity Friday at Williamsport Escapes, which offers a team-building series of brain games at 201 Basin Street. Tanae A. Traister, clinical director of nursing, and Taren A. (Adams) Long, a 2011 radiography graduate, joined four students as they solved clues that allowed them to break out of the facility’s locker-room area. The group was given 60 minutes to escape and managed to get out with two minutes and 57 seconds to spare! Penn College’s Living-Learning Communities provide themed housing arrangements for first-year residents in a variety of academic majors.
Photo provided

Penn College Dental Hygiene Clinic Offers Care to Community

Penn College’s state-of-the-art dental hygiene clinic offers affordable preventive services to the community.

The dental hygiene clinic at Pennsylvania College of Technology provides affordable preventive dental care to patrons from the surrounding community.

Services include cleanings, exams, sealants and X-rays. To schedule an appointment, call 570-327-4500.

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Thirteen Students Selected for Penn College NOW Scholarships

Penn College presented scholarships to 13 first-year students who took Penn College NOW courses. From left are Tavor T. Wadsworth, of Williamsport; Vincent R. Keene, of Downingtown; Kayley E. Johnson, of Bloomsburg; Monica A. McCarty, Penn College’s dual enrollment specialist; Michael L. Gardner, of Williamsport; Warren E. Knipe, of Liberty; and Tanya Berfield, the college’s manager of college transitions. Additional recipients not in the photo are: Cheyenne N. Greene, of Jersey Shore; Deontae Z. Johnson, of Selinsgrove; Kylee E. Kelley, of Lock Haven; Tyler W. Miller, of Montgomery; Luke B. Walter, of Millmont; Brittany M. Weiskopff, of Blossburg; Clayton T. Welch, of Benton; and Jeremy M. Wolfgang, of Allenwood.

Pennsylvania College of Technology recently recognized 13 first-year students who received Penn College NOW scholarships.

The recipients completed Penn College courses during high school as part of the college’s Penn College NOW dual-enrollment program. The group was honored during an Oct. 27 reception.

To be eligible, students must have successfully completed at least one Penn College NOW course, have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in Penn College NOW classes, enroll in Penn College as a full-time freshman student for the fall semester after high school graduation, and maintain a 2.5 GPA at Penn College as an enrolled student.

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Last updated December 5, 2017 | Posted in Accounting & Finance, Art and Graphic Design, Automotive, Baking, Pastry & Culinary Arts, Building Construction, Business & Hospitality, College Transitions, Construction & Design Technologies, Dental Hygiene, Electrical, Electronics & Computer Engineering Technology, Emergency Management, Engineering Design Technology, Health Sciences, Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies, Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications, Students, Transportation & Natural Resources Technologies, Welding |

Faculty Pitch Health Careers at Regional ‘Awareness Day’

Wellsboro students learn about dental hygiene careers, straight from the mannequin's mouth.

Justin M. Ingram uses brains to make students mindful of their vocational options.

Shawn A. Kiser, Penn College’s director of dental hygiene, and Justin M. Ingram, assistant professor of biology, collaborated to provide hands-on recruitment at the 2017 Tioga County Health Career Awareness Day. The event was held Nov. 8 at Wellsboro Area High School. Ingram provided an overview on the human brain; Kiser provided the opportunity for students to “clean” a mannequin’s teeth and place dental sealants. The event attracted about 150 area high school students.
Photos provided

Dental Hygiene Program Hosts Oral Health Conference

Dental professionals from across northcentral Pennsylvania attend the 16th annual Oral Health Conference in Penn’s Inn.

Tom Viola, speaker, teacher, author and registered pharmacist, provides insight on pain management in the dental profession.

The dental hygiene program hosted the Northcentral Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center’s 16th annual Oral Health Conference on Oct. 27. The event was held in Penn’s Inn and attracted 200 dental professionals from across the state. The audience included 81 graduates of the Penn College program and 36 second-year dental hygiene students. Rhonda S. Walker, alumni relations specialist, and Kimberly R. Cassel, director of alumni relations, attended to welcome the alumni group to campus. The keynote speaker was Tom Viola, registered pharmacist and certified consultant pharmacist, who provided a presentation on the pharmacological aspects of pain management for dental professionals titled “I Haven’t Got Time for the Pain!”
Photos provided

Dental Hygiene Clinic Holds ‘Pink Out’ for Breast Cancer Awareness

The college’s Dental Hygiene Clinic takes on a pink hue as students and faculty don pink gowns for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Penn College’s dental hygiene program helped to promote National Breast Cancer Awareness Month this week. While treating patients in the Dental Hygiene Clinic on Thursday and Friday, second-year students and their faculty donned pink gowns, creating a clinicwide “pink out.”

A World Away, Students Make Do … and Make a Difference

Penn College students gather with schoolchildren in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

On the steps of a school in Las Terrenas, Santo Domingo, Penn College students join a group of teachers and administrators. The students conducted clinics in four schools in four days at Las Terrenes.

Jenna N. Tippy, a student from Langhorne, outfits a curious child with gloves, glasses and face mask to be her “helper.”

The students provided their young clients with Penn College backpacks, courtesy of the Admissions Office.

Pretty in pink: Instructor Rhonda J. Seebold snapped a photo of students with children whose outfits just happened to be a perfect match to the students’ bright lab jackets. The students were providing sealants.

Students in Penn College’s dental hygiene bachelor’s degree major made a summer stop in the Dominican Republic, where they provided free dental services to between 250 and 300 children in underserved neighborhoods. The students first visited the town of Las Terrenas, on the northeast coast, where they spent four days providing free dental clinics at four schools before traveling south to Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital, to serve a school there. A highlight of the trip happened in Santo Domingo, where the students’ accommodations were within walking distance of the school in which they would establish a clinic. On their way back from the school, with supplies in hand, the students came upon a dirt alley where small children were playing. “Some of the students sort of dropped everything and started playing with them,” said Rhonda J. Seebold, part-time instructor of dental hygiene, who led the study abroad trip. With the help of Seebold’s son, who speaks fluent Spanish, the children’s parents excitedly accepted an offer to provide fluoride treatments to the children, and the students went about setting up a clinic. “Part of what I teach the students is that you make do with what you have,” Seebold said. While in the Dominican Republic, Seebold estimates that the 12 students treated about 75 children a day. The students were enrolled in a summer elective course called International Oral Health Care Experience.
Photos provided

Nursing Students Visited by Versatile Health Sciences Grad

Alumna Trena Dale returns to Penn College.

With help from the Alumni Relations Office, the Penn College Student Nurses’ Association recently hosted alumna Trena Dale. Dale has received two associate degrees from Penn College: a dental hygiene degree in 2001 and a nursing degree in 2011. Dale, now an emergency room nurse at Evangelical Community Hospital, a part-time RN in Geisinger’s Special Care Unit 5 and, occasionally, a substitute dental hygienist, spoke to nursing students about her experiences as a Penn College student, as a new graduate seeking employment, and about her career in dental hygiene and nursing. She shared stories related to her professional role that highlighted the importance of developing relationships with patients, engaging in teamwork, and paying attention to details when communicating in health care environments. “Of course, Trena also took time to share information about the importance of mouth care for patients in the hospital,” said Tushanna M. Habalar, instructor of nursing and SNA adviser. “Trena’s positive demeanor, real-life stories and energy were appreciated by the students and faculty who attended.”

Emergency Scenarios Translate to Real-Life Benefit for Students

Occupational therapy assistant student Rachel N. Zimmerman, of Pine Grove, shows physician assistant student Zachary S. Kimble, of Bellefonte (acting as a hip-replacement patient who later in the simulation would have a stroke) and other students watching how to use a “reacher” to help with dressing. Observing is Christine A. Tilburg, clinical director of physical therapist assistant.

Emergency medical services student Ian P. McClure, of Littlestown, and paramedic technician student Megan E. Bobby, of Dysart, explain the actions they would take when called to the Dental Hygiene Clinic to help a patient experiencing an allergic reaction to Novocain.

Surgical technology students simulate a laparoscopic gall bladder removal.

Around 250 students in the School of Health Sciences – an academic division that spans 11 distinct health care and allied health fields – are participating this week in a series of hands-on emergency health simulations. The school’s fourth annual Interdisciplinary Professional Event involves 24 student teams, each made up of a cross section of health disciplines, discussing and observing one another’s role in their assigned case. Students in the physician assistant major played roles of patients, whose health problems ranged from an allergic reaction to Novocain in the Dental Hygiene Clinic to a loss of consciousness in the Keystone Dining Room, and surgeries to replace hips and remove gallbladders. As “patients” moved through the health care system, they moved, with their observers, from lab to lab in the Breuder Advanced Technology & Health Sciences Center. The purpose of the experience is to prepare the students to deliberatively work together as patients interact with each of them during their health care experience, with an ultimate goal to improve patient care. Also involved were 23 staff and faculty from the school, who planned and managed the event and led groups through their simulations on Tuesday and Thursday.

Online Learning Options at Penn College Offer Enhanced Flexibility

Penn College offers a beautiful, modern campus in Williamsport, but for students who need the flexibility of online programs, the college provides a variety of options.

Pennsylvania College of Technology is renowned for its “degrees that work,” and for those needing additional flexibility to attain a degree from the college, online options abound.

Online learning at Penn College offers more choices to students who are balancing work and family responsibilities. The offerings feature the same academic rigor and accreditation as on-campus programs, but there is no requirement to ever attend class on the campus in Williamsport. Online students may choose to enroll full time or part time.

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Alumni Sweethearts Enjoy VIP Service on Campus

As winners of the sixth annual Alumni Sweethearts contest at Penn College, Robert and Megan (Miller) Brightbill enjoyed an overnight stay in the college’s Victorian House and dinner in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant.

Two graduates who work as educators in Harrisburg returned to their alma mater recently as Pennsylvania College of Technology’s 2017 Alumni Sweethearts.

Robert A. and Megan L. (Miller) Brightbill said they were treated like VIPs during their visit, which featured an overnight stay in the college’s Victorian House and dinner in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant as winners of Alumni Relations’ sixth annual Alumni Sweethearts contest.

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2017 ‘Sweethearts’ Chosen From 11 Alumni Couples

This year's Alumni Sweethearts: Megan L. (Miller) and Robert A. Brightbill

Congratulations to Megan L. (Miller) and Robert A. Brightbill, winners of Penn College’s 2017 Alumni Sweethearts contest. The Harrisburg couple met at Penn College in the early ’90s and have been married for 22 years. Robert is a 1992 building construction technology graduate and Megan earned dental hygiene degrees in 1993 and 2001. As part of the sixth annual Sweethearts contest, the Brightbills received 292 votes (or “likes”) for their photo on Alumni Relations’ Facebook page. Ten other couples vied for the honor. Megan and Robert will return to campus soon to enjoy dinner for two in Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and an overnight stay in The Victorian House. Watch PCToday for more coverage of their visit to campus.

March 25 Event to Offer Free Preventive Dental Services to Children

Free dental care – including sealants, fluoride varnish treatments, education and screenings – will be available to children ages 7-15 on Saturday, March 25, when Pennsylvania College of Technology will be a host site for the Pennsylvania Dental Hygienists’ Association’s Sealant Saturday initiative.

Sealant Saturday events are held across the state. The Penn College event will take place 9 a.m. to noon in the college’s Dental Hygiene Clinic, which is in Room 227 on the west wing of the Advanced Technology and Health Sciences Center.

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Pennsylvania College of Technology is a special mission affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University