Anonymous $100,000 to Maui Oral Health Center

UHMC Dental Assisting and Dental Hygiene students try out the new chairs. Photo courtesy of the University of Hawaii Maui College.

By Wendy Osher

An anonymous donation totaling $100,000 from a local foundation was issued to the Maui Oral Health Center for the acquisition of new dental chairs at the decade-old facility.

The MOHC opened in 2002, serving as a clinical and classroom site for the University of Hawaii Maui College Dental Assisting Program.

Today, the facility provides affordable and accessible oral/dental health care to the underserved, low-income, and uninsured families of Maui–serving an estimated 800 to 1,000 residents each month.

When the facility opened ten years ago, a charitable donation of used equipment was obtained from local dentists. Over the years, the aged equipment and variations in models made maintenance and repair expensive and at times impossible, according to university officials.

The new chairs, administrators say, are key for the center as it continues to provide oral/dental health care services.

“Everyone on the UHMC Dental Program faculty, the staff and patients for the Maui Oral Health Center would like to express their mahalo to the donor for this extremely valuable gift,” said Nancy Johnson, UHMC’s Allied Health Department Chair.

The center is scheduled to move to a new site on the UH Maui College campus once the new science building has completed construction.

***Supporting information courtesy UHMC.