DENTON (UNT), Texas -- On-site Dental Solutions has partnered with the Student Health and Wellness Center at the University of North Texas to provide students, faculty and staff a dental office on campus. The office is scheduled to open the week of Feb. 9 in room 154 of Chestnut Hall, 1800 Chestnut Street.

In the last two years, the Student Health and Wellness Center has added a new dietician, psychiatrist, health hut and massage therapist in an effort to create a "holistic wellness umbrella," said Teresa McKinney, assistant vice president of student affairs at UNT. The dental office will be the latest addition to the health facilities at UNT.

On-site Dental Solutions has been in operation for four years and is based on 30 years of private dental practice. The company works with universities to provide essential dental services to students.

"We started to do boutique dental offices to service a small portion of the campus population that needed highly convenient and highly elegant dental services," said Charles Lusk, co-founder of On-site Dental Solutions. "We're really honored to be here at the University of North Texas and help round out the campus Health and Wellness Center."

Lusk said that the UNT office will be able to provide a range of dental services to students.

"We're offering full comprehensive dentistry: cleanings to crowns and everything in between – even orthodontics," Lusk said. "We're able to do clear aligners through Invisalign and provide those services on site as well."

Since On-site Dental Solutions is a third-party vendor, it will not be supported by student services fees. However, because of that, it will be open to both students, faculty and staff, and will keep prices at reasonable levels, McKinney said.

"While the dental office will accept insurance, it will also offer out-of-pocket payments at very affordable rates, and are slated to offer interest-free payment plans," she said. "The combined utilization helps the dental team keep costs low for everyone needing services."

Matthew Mancuso, D.M.D., will be the dentist at the UNT location. He has almost 14 years of private practice experience and expects that the On-site office at UNT will be a comparable environment.

"I think it is going to be very similar to a private practice type setting," Mancuso said. He added that the location will have rooms with special equipment needed for dentistry. "There are two operating rooms and we have a lot of technology in the office as well. There are going to be TV's in the office, intraoral cameras and digital x-rays. It will be a real nice set-up."

Jackie Baird, dental assistant at the On-site UNT location, said the new facility at UNT will allow students to avoid the hassle of trying to schedule an appointment during their limited time home.

"It is hard for college students to get into their family dentists, said Baird. "A lot of the time the dentists can't make that happen, but, with us here, students don't have to worry about that."

The UNT community can reach the On-site office at 940-273-2184 to start scheduling appointments.