The Loma Linda University School of Dentistry and the College of the Desert community college are planning to collaborate on a dental hygiene school in Palm Desert, CA, according to the Desert Sun.
Contingent on a vote of the planning commission, the school would be located in a 10,491-sq-ft space leased by Loma Linda, the newspaper reported.
Students could earn an associate degree in dental hygiene. Beginning in January 20100, the school will accept 28 students, who will take prerequisite science and general education courses at the community college, then transfer to Loma Linda.
Kristi Wilkins, chairwoman of dental hygiene at Loma Linda, said the school will offer a clinic for the underserved, according to the newspaper. Hygienists are in high demand, with only one for every two dentists in the Inland Empire region, according to Wilkins.
But the newspaper quoted a local dentist, Robert Daddio, D.D.S., as saying the recession has cut down on the demand for hygienists, that for years he had people commuting from Yucaipa and Redlands, but now the situation has reversed and he has hygienists walking in looking for work.
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