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Over its 18-year history, 91���� University’s School of Dental Hygiene Studies has averaged over 4,000 patient appointments per year and has served over 21,000 different patients and counting.

That is an impressive number to John & Janelle Spencer, the founders of , a leading dental components and equipment manufacturer based in Newberg, Oregon.

“91���� sees a lot of people that need help and that fits in with what we want to do in the world to help others,” said John Spencer, who serves as DCI's chief executive officer. “The better equipment that these young people can train on helps them to be up-to-date and more aware of what they are going to use in dental offices.”

Many of those patients are from underserved populations, specifically from Hispanic and Spanish-speaking communities, and often don’t have insurance. That dedication to service helped inspire the Spencers and DCI to donate $200,000 of equipment to the university this spring.

The donation replaced all of the cabinetry in the School of Dental Hygiene Studies clinic, including the school’s treatment areas and front office.

The new cabinets not only provide additional storage space for student equipment and dental instruments but also provide more privacy for the clinic’s treatment areas. The original cabinets sat three to four feet high, which was typical of dental clinics in the early 2000s.

“Over the years, we’ve noticed that the way that our clinic was set up created a lack of privacy for students,” said Amy Coplen, director of the School of Dental Hygiene Studies. “The whole clinic felt open. Now the cabinets go all of the way up and creates more privacy for our patients.”

The donation is not the first by DCI to the university. The company donated almost all of the equipment for the clinic, including chairs, dental tools and cabinets, when the program opened in 2005. The equipment was top-of-the-line at the time and held up well for its 18 years of use.

“Lisa [Rowley, founding director of the school] said that when they chose the chairs and equipment, they wanted the best quality because they wanted our underserved patients to not feel like they were underserved,” Coplen said. “They wanted them to get the highest level of care possible in the best equipment possible.”

Providing equipment to treat underserved populations has been an important mission for DCI ever since Spencers founded the company in 1983. One of their early goals was to see 250,000 patients from underserved populations receive treatment on equipment donated by DCI. Service to providers treating underserved populations continues to be a primary tenet of DCI’s philosophy.

Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, a partner of 91���� University, has also been the beneficiary of DCI’s many worldwide equipment donations.

“Our vision of serving 250,000 people that we had 40 years ago is coming to life,” John Spencer said. “We’ve been able to make donations all over the U.S. and in many places around the world. So it was especially fun to do something close to home.”

The cabinetry donation is the latest part of a major renovation of the school’s treatment clinic, which included the replacement of the original dental chairs with newer DCI equipment. Both Coplen and Spencer are hopeful that the continued relationship will yield possibilities for future partnerships.

The partnership has helped a generation of 91���� students find their purpose in dental care. Since its inception in 2006, the School of Dental Hygiene Studies has produced over 500 graduates. There are currently 64 students enrolled in the program.

“This equipment not only helps patients receive the highest quality care, but it also helps draw future students into the program by showing that they can learn in a state-of-the-art facility,” Coplen said. “It elevates the education that we can provide, and those students are committed to providing care to the underserved. We hope that they will continue to do that after they graduate.”