I came here as a patient of their free dental clinic:…read morehttps://carrington.edu/location/san-jose-dental-hygiene-clinic/
My dental insurance at the time was being a pain in the ass, so I decided to look for cheaper alternatives - they happen to do cleanings for free. I was recruited personally by a dental hygiene student, as it seems they are in dire need of patients.
When I first entered the clinic, all of the seats were taken up by people, so I was amazed that they seemed to be actively recruiting for patients, essentially. When I got my screening and assessment, I got an inkling as to why. Basically, the students need to do an exam on a live patient in order to pass for their certification, but a patient needs to meet very specific criteria in order to be used... I happen to have been one of them.
Yes, everything is free, but it's balanced out by the time that you need to spend there. For example, the student performs dental scaling, notes down their observations, and then they need to wait for their instructor to come and do it again and make their confirmations or corrections.
I had a good time working with my dental hygienist in-training, as she was very approachable, communicative, and informative. I learned a lot about dental work through her!
I stopped going because I wasn't comfortable with multiple people working on my mouth (mainly happened because multiple students wanted to pass their test using me), I had other life issues that occurred at the same time, it was rough on me to spend the time to commute back and forth to San Jose, and their scheduling availability was not the most ideal. They seemed to only have a morning and afternoon session, each of which can take up to 4 hours.
If you happen to be in a situation where you need a free dental screening, cleaning, or deep cleaning, and have time on your hands, I think this is a fine opportunity to explore.