Tufts Dental Global Service Learning to DR

This crowdfunding project has ended, but you can still support TUSDM Global Service Learning work in DR. Thank you for your continued support!

Our Event: 

From August 19, 2018 to August 26, 2018, 16 undergraduate dental students and 6 faculty will travel to Santo-Domingo to provide dental services for a week to the underserved population free of charge.Through a collaborative partnership with the Universad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU). Patients come in by the bus loads (pediatric and adult) and will be triaged upon an initial examination to receive free preventative, restorative, and emergency procedures as needed. Our partnership allows for us to constantly build around the idea of Continuity of Care (CC). This can provide the patients pre-screened to become establish a dental home at UNPHU. After the initial event, those patients can be seen on a case-by-case basis and come back for additional treatments. The event is slated to be bigger and better than years past, the TSHDA and UNPHU recruitment efforts will be focusing on an additional patient population; children with intellectual and learning disabilities along with including a fun oral health promotion and education component. 

Our Target Population:

This event will be primarily focusing on serving disadvantaged communities inside and outside the city capital of Santo Domingo, who do not have access to any dental care and look forward to us coming each year to be seen due to financial constraints, along with a lack of oral health education.

The TUSDM Advantage:

Our vision of global leadership in oral healthcare is one that has continuously motivated TUSDM to provide education committed to clinical excellence, all the while maintaining a strong connection to community service here in the United States and to other countries. Thus, the mission of Tufts Hispanic Dental Association Global Service Learning Trip to the Dominican Republic resonates very deeply with TUSDM. Junior and senior dental students travel to deliver much need dental care, usually inaccessible to the local community. For students that are new to the clinic, they get to gain experience treating main patients in need of a lot of dental work in short period of time, which boosts one's skills, speed and confidence. TUSDM’s experienced faculty and dental students take Spanish-Terminology Classes throughout the semester to help with communication and conversation. This opportunity strengthens TUSDM’s already well-established ties to the local communities around Santo Domingo, as well as their relationship with UNPHU, in the form of effective comprehensive care and oral health education. The most rewarding aspect of this entire trip is the appreciation and gratitude shown by the patients and knowing that providing this care is a life changing event to so many families

How You Can Help:

You can make a direct impact on this year’s Global Service Learning Trip to the Dominican Republic. Your generosity has the ability to not only help us reduce the dental supply costs for the week, but to also have a longer lasting impact by helping to facilitate the oral health of families in need, and potentially help them find a permanent dental home. The TUSDM Hispanic Dental Association appreciates any and all contributions towards this Service Trip, which is 100% funded out-of-pocket by the students. 

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We hope you will consider joining us in helping TUSDM continue to bring top-level dental care to a multitude of patients in a short period of time to the underserved communities of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in a productive and meaningful way!