By Amresh Gunasingham

THE next time Jasmine Aw, 18, wants a routine dental checkup, it may be her friend Fang Yi who scales, polishes and cleans her teeth, in a clinic on her school campus.

Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) has set up a Teaching Dental Clinic costing $600,000 to train final-year students in its three-year diploma programme in Dental Hygiene and Therapy. It opened its doors in October this year.

Under the supervision of qualified dentists, students like Fang Yi, 21, will learn to perform simple procedures such as polishing, scaling and taking X-rays of teeth.

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