The Unexpected: Dental Care

What can you do for good dental hygiene without insurance?

A very common but not well-discussed concern on campus is how to take care of oneself in a country without great healthcare options. This post won't solve that but it will present options for steps you can take to maintain your health while at Harvard.

If you are on financial aid at all then I strongly suggest you first reach out to your financial aid officer about your concerns to see what options they might have, if any. 

One thing they may be able to assist with is financing fees for care such as those at the Harvard Dental Clinic. This is where I went while a Harvard graduate student. It's a teaching clinic supervised by professors and the prices are lower: https://hsdm.harvard.edu/teaching-practice: 

Cost There is a $159.00 charge for the initial examination and necessary diagnostic x-rays in the Oral Diagnosis Clinic. If you need additional treatment, each of the Teaching Practices has a different fee structure. The Pre-Doctoral Practice has the lowest fees. Although the Advanced Graduate fees are higher than the Pre-Doctoral fees, they are still lower than those charged by dentists in private practice." 

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There's also MassHealth, check eligibility here: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/eligibility-for-health-care-benefits-for-masshealth-the-health-safety-net-and

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In the meantime, get some FLOSS. Flossing is arguably just as important to dental hygiene as brushing. Do it before you go to bed, make it a habit by doing it along with another already-built-in evening routine.

(not this flossing)

Here's a helpful How-To: https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-floss

Learn more here: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-do-i-really-need-to-floss-every-day