Community Outreach

The College of Dentistry is one of the largest providers of low cost dental care to Florida's indigent residents: more than 70 percent of the college's patients meet federal low income guidelines. Dental care at our student clinic costs 30-50% less than private practice.

In addition to providing reduced-fee care in its student clinics, the College hosts several other community outreach programs in the areas of patient care, education and research, as well as holding fundraisers to benefit charity organizations.

American Cancer Society Relay for Life

As part of the "Bald for a Cause" promise to raise funds for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, College of Dentistry faculty and students committed to having their heads shaved if certain fundraising levels were met. The effort raised almost $20,000, and six people gave up their hair in March and April 2009!

Wish Upon a Star

The College of Dentistry worked with the Partnership for Strong Families during the 2008 holiday season to help sponsor holiday gifts for children in our community. Two Holiday Giving Trees were set up in the college, each decorated with stars that listed a child’s name, age, clothing sizes and their three wishes for holiday gifts. Individuals or groups could select a star to sponsor a child and purchase gifts for him or her.

UF Community Campaign

The Dental Desperados Community Campaign on September 24-25, 2008 raised $2,092.67 for the UF Community Campaign! On September 24, UFCD held a silent auction with items donated by college staff and faculty, which raised $1,333. Bidders also voted with their donations for their favorite nominee to get a pie in the face at "Pie Noon" on September 25 in the Dental Courtyard. Besides flying pies, there was also a dunking booth where participants could donate a dollar to try to dunk UFCD faculty members. The dunking booth raised $206, and the pie voting rustled up $553.67.

Patient Care

Pediatric Dental Care

Pediatric dentistry faculty, residents and staff provide dental care to low-income and disabled patients at:

The ACORN clinic (Brooker)
The Shands Eastside Community Health Clinic
The Florida School for Deaf and Blind (St. Augustine)
The dental clinic at Tacachale, a state-operated residential facility for disabled people

Humanitarian Service Trips

UFCD has established ongoing partnerships with Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Quito, Ecuador and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan Facultad de Odontologiá (UADY) in Yucatan, Mexico to sponsor international service trips and student exchanges. During college breaks, dental students travel to provide much-needed oral care to underserved patients in these countries.

In December 2004, two UFCD faculty members and nine students went to Yucatan and treated more than 400 children in largely rural and underdeveloped areas. A March 2005 trip to Ecuador paired 14 UFCD students with USFQ students to provide restorative and oral surgery treatment to about 300 needy patients.

The College also sponsored a separate mission trip to the Dominican Republic in December 2004, which included 21 UF dental students, three private dentists and two dental assistants and provided critical dental treatment to more than 500 patients, many of whom were malnourished children or children with HIV.

Give Kids a Smile

Give Kids a Smile is an annual event sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA) in association with Children's Dental Health Month (March). The ADA works with state and local institutions to reach dentally at-risk children through educational and restorative programs to promote lifelong oral and systemic health. The 2008 University of Florida GKAS outreach consisted of two efforts, the Middle School Initiative and the Alachua County Dental Association restorative outreach.

The Middle School Initiative focused on Micanopy Middle School and Hawthorne Middle School, which are ethnically diverse and at-risk for poor dental health. Teams of dental students went to the schools and gave presentations to students about proper oral hygiene and risks to dental health such as tobacco. Students were also provided with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and dental floss; some received dental screenings and fluoride varnish.

During the restorative outreach, UFCD provided support and materials which allowed 20 children to receive comprehensive dental services at the Santa Fe Community College Dental Clinic.

Education

Summer Learning Program

The Summer Learning Program is sponsored by the College of Dentistry. It allows disadvantaged and minority undergraduates to spend two weeks being introduced to the profession of dentistry, lab and patient care techniques, and the UFCD admissions process. Students have the opportunity to network with dental faculty and students, and housing and meals are provided free.

SNDA Impressions Program

The Impressions program is a one-day program of activities sponsored by the Student National Dental Association. Its mission is to expose underrepresented pre-dental students to careers in dentistry and to the application and financial aid process, making participants stronger dental school applicants.

Research

Southeast Center for Research to Reduce Disparities in Oral Health

The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 34,500 new mouth and throat cases will be diagnosed in the next year. In the U.S., there are more than 7,550 deaths per year from head and neck cancer (compared with 3,670 for cervical cancer). Survival from head and neck cancer is one of the lowest among all malignancies; it has not improved in recent decades and remains about 58%. Survival rates and quality of life improve greatly with early detection and treatment.

The Southeast Center for Research to Reduce Disparities in Oral Health opened in October 2008, The Center opened in October 2008 with support from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its mission is to:

Promote early detection and prevention of head and neck cancer among low-income rural and minority individuals in Florida
Provide new resources through which multi-disciplinary teams jointly conduct targeted community-based intervention research
Strengthen the partnerships among researchers, clinicians, and the community The Center’s first community-based intervention project will apply scientific health promotion models to increase the likelihood that African American men obtain oral cancer screenings.

UF Colleges with a Conscience

UF Community Relations For more information on what other colleges are doing to help our local and global community, visit UF Colleges With a Conscience.

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