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A Sandpoint resident is among those who will graduate in December from North Idaho College’s first-ever dental hygiene class.

Nina McDonnell grew up in Sandpoint, attending Sandpoint High School. She’s wanted to go into the medical field in some capacity for years, she said, and has always been fascinated by anatomy and the human body.

Dental hygiene allows her to follow that interest, she said, without the stress of some other jobs in medicine.

The program, which began in January of this year, has been in the works since 2014, said program director Janis McClelland.

It will take two years for the students to complete. Currently, McDonnell and her peers are practicing on each other — a challenge, she said, considering everyone has healthy teeth.

In August, though, as she and the 15 other students in the program will begin providing reduced-cost dental care for upward of 150 patients McClelland said.

Before joining the NIC program, McDonnell was shadowing local dentist Jim Lewis. Once she graduates, she plans to stay in Sandpoint, she said.

The region has a significant shortage of dental hygienists, McClelland said. Around 13 of the 15 students are expected to stay in the region after graduation, with one planning to return to Washington and another to Montana.

“It's a program that truly services our community,” McClelland said. “It will provide our dental offices with a new workforce.”

The program also has a wide variety of students, she said. Some, like McDonnell, are typical young college students. Some others are working mothers, or older adults looking into a new profession.

Unlike dental assistants, she said, hygienists are required to go through rigorous training and are able to do tasks like scaling, probing and checking for disease.

McClelland has lived in the area for 25 years, she said, so she’s excited to finally see a dental hygiene program available locally without students having to travel to Boise or farther.

The local dentists have been extremely supportive, she said, and been “cheerleaders and supporters” for her as she worked on developing the program. She’s also excited to see McDonnell’s progress, she said.

“Nina's delightful, just eager to learn. Already loves the dental hygiene profession. I'm just very impressed with her,” she said. “I just think it's really cool that she's from Sandpoint, Idaho. The first person from Sandpoint to be part of this first cohort — it just was kind of neat to have her have so many firsts.”

Rachel Sun can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RachelDailyBee.