Building the... - College of Dentistry - University of Florida

Serving
F O R T H E F U T U R E
The College of Dentistry has a
multi-faceted service mission
encompassing patient care and
community outreach and education.
Through its Statewide
Network for Community Oral
Health, the college improves
access to dental care for Florida’s
residents, focusing on vulnerable
and indigent populations and special
needs patients. Through the
network, the college has become
one of the largest providers of
low-cost dental care in Florida,
providing nearly 10 percent of all
indigent care to Florida’s residents,
offering comprehensive
state-of-the-art clinical services
during more than 89,950 patient
visits in fiscal year 2004-2005.
The Statewide Network for
Community Oral Health continues
to be a unique resource
with the goal of providing clinical
learning opportunities for
dental students and residents
while also improving access to
dental services to the underserved.
The college has
expanded the network in 2005
with an educational/clinical
partnership with the University
Partnership Center on the St.
Petersburg College Seminole
Campus.
The college’s students and
faculty also give of themselves
during humanitarian service
trips at home and abroad. The
College of Dentistry sponsored
three international educational
and service trips to the countries of Dominican Republic and Yucatan, Mexico last December, and
Ecuador in March.
Patient Visits to College-owned Clinics
While the Dominican Republic trip was not affiliated with a foreign university, the Ecuador and
Yucatan trips built on academic ties with sister institutions in other countries to broaden the
educational experience of UF dental students. The college has established ongoing exchanges
with Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Quito, Ecuador and Universidad Autónoma
de Yucatan Facultad de Odontologiá (UADY) in Yucatan, Mexico.
USFQ hosted 14 UF dental students early March, pairing them with USFQ students to provide
restorative and oral surgery treatment to about 300 needy patients. The December trip to the
Dominican Republic included 21 UF dental students who were joined by three private dentists and
two dental assistants. The UF mission to Dominica resulted in more than 500 patients, many of who
were malnourished children or children with HIV, receiving critical dental treatment. The UF trip
to Yucatan, Mexico included two faculty and nine UF dental students who partnered with UADY
students to provide treatment to more than 400 children in largely rural and underdeveloped areas.