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Jennifer Bartek '85 M'07: Dental Hygiene Now and Then

When jogging around USI’s campus in the hours before dawn, Jennifer Bartek '85 M'07 reflects on how much the University has changed since she was a student in the Dental Hygiene Program in the 1980s.

Today Bartek oversees student clinicians in the Dental Hygiene Clinic, but she came to USI as a student in 1981. “Before the sun rises I see the lights on in our building and reflect on all the positive things that have happened here,” she said.

Bartek earned an associate’s degree in dental hygiene in 1984 and a Bachelor of Science degree in dental hygiene the following year. She remembers the campus debate about what to name the independent university. Her first diploma from Indiana State University-Evansville hangs above her 1985 diploma from the University of Southern Indiana in her office located in the Dental Hygiene Clinic, Room 1044 in the Health Professions Center.

Jennifer Bartek as a Student After graduating from USI, she moved to Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, and worked there and in New York and New Jersey. “The experience was invaluable to me as a dental hygienist, and a wonderful opportunity for continuing education and growth in my profession,” she said. She and her growing family returned to Evansville four years later.

“I have been present for such great change, and was blessed to come back as adjunct faculty in 1989 to these wonderful advancements. It’s exciting to be a part of that.” Bartek taught as an adjunct faculty member before becoming the full-time clinic faculty member in 2004.

The first clinic was located in the lower level of the Wright Administration Building. “We had 12 dental chairs in open clinic concept, and the chairs were powder blue. I'll never forget those powder blue chairs,” she said.
The current facility has 13 cubicles that allow for privacy. “That’s one of the fundamental differences between the first clinic and this clinic. And Deborah Carl (program director of Dental Hygiene) oversaw the installation of the new state-of-the-art equipment when the Health Professions Center was built.”

The number of students in the program has doubled.

The most dramatic technological change has been in radiography, which is now digital instead of film. “Digital radiography is very different than the old days, when we had to manually develop x-rays. It was time-consuming, messy, and stained our uniforms.”

In the Dental Hygiene Program class portraits displayed in the clinic’s spacious waiting room, graduating classes from the 1970s and ’80s – including Bartek’s – are wearing traditional white uniforms and caps.
“On certain days we wore dresses, and on others we wore pants,” she said. “Our hair had to be pinned under a cap, and we wore white polished shoes. I have to admit I don’t miss the polyester uniforms. Our cotton scrubs are a lot more comfortable!”

Bartek also teaches in the Dental Assisting Program and is a certified dental assistant. She earned a Master of Science in Education from USI in 2007.

“I’ve seen a lot of very positive, exciting changes, and I’m so blessed to be a part of it. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I can’t.”

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