International Dental Missions

GSDM continued its involvement in international dental missions to provide preventative and restorative oral health care to underprivileged communities worldwide, serving those who otherwise would not have access to care. These GSDM-supported dental missions have increased in both number and type, as well as in the number of students participating in the trips. During this past year, students participated in international mission trips in Ukraine, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and Jamaica.

• The Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery team returns to Ukraine to perform more than 50 consultations and surgeries on underserved children affected with various facial deformities and developmental anomalies including cleft lip and palate. Similar to past trips, GSDM joined forces with the Smiles International Foundation’s Smiles of Ukraine program in carrying out this outreach effort.
• Students and alumni traveled to Nicaragua to provide oral health care to over 500 local residents in two locations as part of a medical outreach trip organized by Northeast Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (NEVOSH).
• Dental students traveled to Poptun, Guatemala with Liga International to provide oral health care to between 250 to 300 patients, more than half of them children. The students performed a variety of extractions, anterior composites, and oral surgeries at the clinic.
• Faculty, alumni, and student volunteers participated in a weeklong Project Stretch trip to Teacapan, Mexico. During this trip the volunteers performed dental exams, placed sealants, and extracted teeth. An educational component included a presentation to children in Spanish as well as to clinic staff to teach them an effective way to reinforce oral health concepts with the children.
• Students traveled to Nicaragua with the San Juan Rio Relief Organization to bring oral health outreach to the poverty-stricken region. Both children and adults were seen in the small make-shift clinic, some who live locally and others from further away. Hundreds of dental fillings and extractions were performed by the volunteer team.
• Two students traveled to Mexico to participate in an elective externship in the Cooper Canyon region as part of a small outreach team. The trip was affiliated with Liga International—the Flying Doctors of Mercy. The group provided outreach to children and adults in several areas of Mexico.
• On separate two-week trips with Dentistry for All, two students joined larger groups of volunteers in Guatemala to provide dental care and education to people in different regions of the country. One of the students worked mainly in the more populated areas of Antigua and El Remante, whereas the other student worked in more rural areas. Both students estimate having treated between 80 and 100 patients on this outreach trip.
• A recent GSDM graduate joined a former faculty member on a Jamaican Awareness Association of California mission trip to Jamaica. The team of health professionals and other volunteers visited six clinics and four hospitals in Ochos Rios and surrounding parishes, providing medical and dental care to a mix of children and adults.