More than 100 patients from the Columbus area attended the College of Dentistry’s third annual Student Board Screening Day on Wednesday evening.

The college offered free dental exams and X-rays to the public in the main clinic of Postle Hall from 5 to 7 p.m.

Greg Snevel, a fourth-year in dentistry, was impressed with the turnout.

“It’s my first year working it, and I just think it’s a fantastic event,” Snevel said.

Jenna Shevlin, vice president of the College of Dentistry’s class of 2011, helped organize the student-run event.

“This is the third year we’ve done it, and it keeps growing each year,” said Shevlin, adding that dentistry students put out flyers, advertised to local groups and even put the event on Craig’s List.

The students succeed in their outreach goal, as people such as Azar Rahnema found out by word-of-mouth.

“My sister works for Ohio State, so she got an e-mail and told me about it,” said Rahnema, 32. “I thought I’d check it out because I just moved here.”

The screenings, which dentistry students administered, served two purposes, Shevlin said. One was to give back to the community with a free service promoting dental health. The second was to find potential patients for the students’ clinical board exams because the exams require a specific type of cavity.

“We’re looking for really specific things, so it’s hard,” Shevlin said. “We’re looking for cavities that need a silver filling, a white filling and also a special kind of cleaning.”

Nights like these allow dentistry students to breathe a sigh of relief, Snevel said.

“For us, it’s stressful to find patients for boards,” he said. “This way, it’s easy to find patients we need, and it helps the community with free exams.”

About half of the attendees “appeared to qualify,” Shevlin said. Further evaluation on a second visit will be required to determine eligibility. If patients qualify, the additional treatment is free.

If patients didn’t qualify, dentistry students encouraged them to come back to the clinic for any dental needs.

The school will have a second free screening in January.