Community dental clinic in danger amid Mount Ida closure

Thousands of students, parents, faculty and staff have been left scrambling to find new schools and jobs after the announcements of the closure of Mount Ida College in Newton.

The closings extends beyond Mount Ida, to the patients of its community dental clinic who could be left with one less place to go for care.

"They need us. They depend on our care," said Mount Ida junior Colleen Moroney.

While pleading for her future as a dental hygiene student displaced by the closure of Mount Ida College, Moroney pleaded for the patients she sees in the school's community clinic.

"We're a public health facility we serve over 2,000 patients a year. People who do not have dental insurance come to us. They've come to us for years," said Moroney.

The school's community clinic has offered free and discounted dental care for years to the surrounding communities.

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On April 5, the private college announced it was closing and that UMass Amherst would acquire its millions in debt and Newton campus. The announcement came without warning to students, parents and staff.

"There are not equivalent options being offered to us and we really need to find something, and soon," said Moroney.

But new options for the clinic's patients could be on the way. One group has been pushing for legislation to increase the oral care resources and after two years, the Massachusetts Dental Society is one step closer to getting it.

While the dental society would not comment on the Mount Ida closure, the joint committee on public health has voted favorable to authorize a set of bills that would give state certification to so-called dental therapists, a practitioner with a Master's degree that's supervised by a dentist.

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"There's a hope that this new level of practitioner by being more mobile will be able to go into those areas of need," said Massachusetts Dental Society President David Lustbader.

Lustbader says while Massachusetts has the highest dentists per capita in the country, the creation of the dental therapist program will better connect people in need to the care they need.

"They're mandated to treat at least 50 percent of patients that are defined as underserved on Mass Health. So it is our hope, particularly with children," said Lustbader.

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