Written by Guest Contributor: Heather Cheek RDH, CDHC, MEd Community Dental Health Program Coordinator

Big Sandy Community and Technical College is proud to offer the only Community Dental Health Coordinator (CDHC) program in Kentucky. CDHCs play a crucial role in improving oral health for individuals and families in underserved communities. Big Sandy is also proud to offer a Dental Hygiene Program and Dental Assisting Program at the new, state-of-the-art, East Kentucky Oral Health Center in Paintsville, and on the Somerset Community College Campus in London. By working collaboratively, these three programs facilitate oral health care and work within the communities to promote better oral and systemic health. These professionals address barriers to dental care by providing education, advocacy, and support. CDHCs help people overcome language and cultural issues, lack of insurance coverage, transportation challenges, or childcare obstacles that prevent them from accessing dental services.  

Just as the Kentucky Oral Health Coalition’s KOHC’s mission is to improve oral health across Kentucky by increasing literacy and improving access to care, the Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, and Community Dental Health Coordinator Programs at BSCTC (Big Sandy Community and Technical College), work collaboratively to improve oral health across the state. The dental programs at BSCTC have been honored and overjoyed to have recently received the generous gift of a mobile unit from Delta Dental of Kentucky. The CDHC program had been using this mobile unit to reach the underserved in Kentucky for two years; it was a tremendous blessing to receive a gift that would continue to give back to so many individuals. This was a dream for the communities in Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky who were uninsured and had a lack of access to care.  

One example of how this mobile unit has been an asset to the outreach of the dental programs at BSCTC was during the last community event held in London. A father and daughter drove over three hours from a different state to seek dental care. They were both in severe pain, had more than one abscessed tooth and did not know where to turn. The problem for this family was a shortage of dentists in their area, and the few dentists in the area did not take the insurance they had, which was Medicaid. With this father and daughter, just as all patients seen in the CDHC outreach events, follow-up calls are made to have continuing care. These patients are then, optimistically, seen in the London or Paintsville clinic locations.  

For reasons just like this father and daughter, the American Dental Association (ADA) and Dr. Jane Grover, developed the Community Dental Health Coordinator (CDHC) curriculum that addresses these needs. Big Sandy Community and Technical College offers the CDHC program in an online format, with an internship as a community project. The CDHC program can be taken with Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, or as a stand-alone program. The program candidates will be accepted upon approval by the coordinator, to allow all programs to work collaboratively to serve the communities. Having the Dental Assisting certificate, the Dental Hygiene diploma, and the CDHC certificate, graduates can typically earn from $35-$55 per hour. The CDHC graduate has employment options of working in health departments, FQHCs, local school systems, hospitals, nursing homes, and medical offices.  

BSCTC welcomes the opportunity for everyone to apply! We are One Team, One Dream, to serve those in need! 

For more information or to contact Big Sandy Community and Technical College:  

Angela Briggs CDA, RDH, BSDH Interim Dean of Allied Health Dental Assisting Program Coordinator, abriggs0022@kctcs.edu  

Carmen L. Fields RDH, MA Program Coordinator, Dental Hygiene cfields0079@kctcs.edu  

Heather Cheek RDH, CDHC, MEd Program Coordinator, Community Dental Health Coordinator hcheek0003@kctcs.edu