Dientes Community Dental Care announced the appointment of a new member to its Board of Directors. Masina Hunnicut, whose father is a Dientes patient, represents a valuable perspective as Dientes provides care to over 10,600 patients.
Dientes Board Member Masina Hunnicut
In 2016, Dientes appointed its first patient board member to refocus on patient-centered care, and since then three patient board members, including Ms. Hunnicut, have joined.
Ms. Hunnicut has lived in Santa Cruz County since 2002, and originally hails from Samoa. She holds a Master’s degree in education, and previously worked at the Assistant Director of Admissions at Cabrillo College. Ms. Hunnicut says her relationship with oral health was once quite different than it is today, “In Samoa, you were really only going to the dentist when you were in extreme pain,” she recalled. After receiving dental care in the United States, she became more familiar with the correlation of oral health to overall health. Ms. Hunnicut homeschools her 11-year old daughter and has made sure she has “a much better relationship with the dentist than I did.”
When her father came from Samoa to live with her they began to address some of his health concerns, and Ms. Hunnicut started with his oral health. After being introduced to Dientes as her father’s new dental home, she said immediately connected with its mission, “what appealed to me was the impact Dientes has on low-income and immigrant families, and for seniors like my father.”
Ms. Hunnicut explained what joining the Dientes Board means to her, “it was just my way of giving back to my community, and to Dientes for the excellent care my father has received here.”
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Dientes Community Dental Care’s mission is to create lasting oral health for the under-served children and adults in Santa Cruz County and neighboring communities. Ninety-seven percent of Dientes’ patients live at or below the poverty level. Dientes accepts Medi-Cal and offers sliding scale fees for uninsured patients. Dientes is a proud partner of United Way.