MSSU Dental Hygiene Clinic

Grayson did a wonderful job and gave me back a smile to be proud of!

Great, kind people. Beautiful clean office and lobby. Staff is phenomenal. Highly recommend! I hate going to the dentist. This was by far the best dental experience I have had. And I even had a tooth pulled!

I was amazed at the friendliness of everyone. The student who did my initial assessment was very sweet and gentle. If you have time I would greatly recommend them.

I made an appointment to get my teeth cleaned just before the Fall 2018 semester ended. During the appointment, they collected extensive information from me and wanted to do x-rays. I didn't want x-rays unless absolutely necessary, since they cause double-stranded breaks that—due to the limitations in our molecular repair mechanisms—invariably introduce mutations to our DNA; the more mutations, the more likely you are to get cancer. So, x-rays are not something that should be performed willy-nilly in the name of practice. They took several, and pushed me for more imaging that involved the x-ray machine revolving around my head, taking multiple x-rays—comparable to a CT scan. I was trying to be cooperative, but that's when I put my foot down. All I wanted was my teeth CLEANED and, after a full day, I left without them cleaning anything, ironically. All they really did was guage gum recession. Then they told me I would need a follow up appointment for the actual cleaning. They promised I would be first in line once the Spring semester started, but I didn't get scheduled until February 5th, even though they started seeing patients on January 17th.
For the second appointment, they said they would need me from 7:50 am to 3:00 pm, which seemed excessive—especially considering preliminary assessments were behind us. Once we got started, the hygenist asked one of the staff for lidocaine, which I found unsettling because we weren't doing a filling or pulling a teeth. I was there, again, for a CLEANING only. After topical numbing of my gums, she insisted on giving me multiple numbing injections into my upper and lower right gums and into my pallet—at least seven different injections in my right side alone. I expressed my alarm to the teacher, telling her that I have never needed numbing injections for a cleaning. I had even been to the clinic before five or six years prior and didn't receive anything but topical numbing. For a while, I routinely got my teeth cleaned at Dr. Jay Joseph's clinic and never needed injections there either. The teacher insisted this was normal and I reluctantly complied. By lunch, they had only cleaned half of my mouth. I was dismissed for lunch, but couldn't eat for fear of biting my cheek. The entire right side of my face was numb.
In the afternoon, instead of getting started on the other side, they just picked and pulled on the same side. I was thinking, "if you've tugged on it 50 times and it's not coming off, it's probably anomalous anatomy—leave it and move on", but they didn't. I asked, "I thought we were done with this quadrant?" They dismissed my concern again.
Finally, when the hygienist was about to start with more injections, I sat up and told them that was enough. I didn't sign up to be a pincushion or a guinea pig.
The premise was, again, teeth cleaning. I feel like the clinic is falsely advertised and, even though the price seems appealing, the actual time commitment and unnecessary procedures make it more expensive, more painful, and more inconvenient than just going to one of the conventional clinics in Joplin.
Also, despite being alumni, they charged me $30 (they charge students $20). This speaks poorly to the way Southern treats its alumni.
I won't go back to the clinic and feel like they should pay their "customers" instead of the other way around.