In March, the University of Minnesota announced the closure of Boynton Health Dental Clinic due to potential renovations, moving its dental operations would move to the School of Dentistry and Faculty Dental Practice. Since then, the University dental workers say they feel shaky communications between workers and the University has left both employees and patients scrambling to recover.

Clinic employees say they learned about the closure alongside patients in a public announcement, which left many staff members in shock.

The announcement of the closure came unexpectedly for many. 

A front desk receptionist who worked at the dental clinic for 19 years, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the University told patients their appointments would be transferred smoothly. Patient feedback suggests otherwise. 

“Everyone’s appointments just got canceled, but the emails and texts didn’t really make that very clear, and it made it sound like something was going to be transferred automatically,” the receptionist said. “People have been very upset and frustrated, like us.”  

Max Vast, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3800, said the labor union is concerned about AFSCME dental staff, as there has not been clear transparency from the University with the staff being placed on administrative leave. 

“We’re mostly concerned about the 21 workers who are AFSCME workers and the healthcare workers,” Vast said. “They’ve been placed on administrative leave and haven’t been told what is going to happen with their jobs.” 

Vast confirmed that, since the closure, the University dimissed 20 workers from their roles at the clinic. Vast added that, while some were able to find other jobs with the Unversity, there were multiple workers that were forced to leave University employment entirely.

A dental hygienist from Boynton Dental Clinic spoke out about the closure, but chose to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation. They said the closure came as a complete surprise to many workers at the clinic.

“We are all very shocked, and as much as we’re concerned about our own jobs, we’re mostly concerned about the patients,” they said. “We can’t believe that the University of Minnesota is treating the patients like this because it feels like patient abandonment.” 

Beyond just the closure itself, the dental hygienist said they are concerned about the transition from Boynton to the School of Dentistry Dental Clinics. Since the closure, the school has received hundreds of voicemails from transfer patients, making it difficult to track transfers. 

“The University of Minnesota says that it’s going to be a smooth transition to the School of Dentistry and to the faculty practice,” they said. “We know the front desk at the faculty practice, and they are telling us that there are over 300 unanswered voicemails in the morning when they come in, and they barely get through them. How many of those are emergencies?” 

Not all see this closure as a negative, though. Omar Zidan, a School of Dentistry faculty member, said the University’s administrators have decided to close the Boynton Dental Clinic as it seemed necessary, as the clinic sits on the same campus as the University’s dental school. 

Despite this, he still acknowledges the difficulties of this process. Zidan said if the University wants the transfer process to work smoothly, they would need to hire more professionals with the new increase of patients coming in for dental care. 

“Moving 7,000 patients from Boynton to the faculty practice requires more personnel to accommodate the influx,” Zidan said. 

Another anonymous source provided the Minnesota Daily with a document containing anonymous patient and community comments after the clinic’s closure. Many comments cite worries surrounding the process of transferring their care, citing the suddden announcement as a major point of confusion.

“Boynton’s presence on campus enabled me to get dental care during enormously stressful and busy times in my life,” a patient said. “Without it? I would have continued to get no care at all; the decision was made with no warning, compounds the damage to my health and to the capacity of all of us.” 

Arja Kumar, a third-year dental student, believes the patients from Boynton Dental Clinic should receive clearer communication after the announcement of the closure. Even for students, the announcement came as a surprise.

With healthcare and dental work being a community service, Kumar said she worries about what this could mean for patients.

“We really want to heal and serve the community knowing what’s going on in this situation with the school, and I understand the abrupt closure carrying that sentiment of patient neglect, which is the saddest part to me of this all,” Kumar said. “No one should feel left in the dark, and at least patients should have that dignity of transparent communication.”