The New Murphy Children's Clinic

The CASS Dental Clinic for Children at Murphy is an on-site, no-cost, school-based, comprehensive dental home for the children who live in the Murphy School District in south Phoenix. The Murphy Clinic eliminates barriers to services and provides timely and quality dental care to each of the 2,200 children enrolled in the district’s four elementary schools.

Children receive annual X-rays, semi-annual teeth cleanings and oral assessments, quarterly fluoride varnishes, and age-appropriate dental sealant applications. Restorative care, such as cavities, is provided as needed.

The Murphy Clinic is the only full portable, self-contained, school-based comprehensive dental clinic in Arizona. Three portable operatories (treatment chairs), a hand-held X-ray machine, laptop computers, and a web-based dental practice management system, allow the Murphy Clinic to setup and operate in an open classroom or auditorium. Children are escorted to the clinic only during their free periods, taking care not to disrupt their education as it does in other school-based models.

Being embedded in the schools eliminates transportation costs and associated safety concerns, personnel costs, and extensive capital expenses. The Murphy Clinic rotates among the four MSD schools, providing preventative as well as restorative dental care. This novel approach to dentistry is cost-effective, efficient, and is easily replicated.