University of Connecticut Health Center, School of Dental Medicine

The School of Dental Medicine is the major provider of dental safety net services for low-income families in Connecticut. It accomplishes this through its predoctoral and pediatric programs, network of community clinics, and Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) program.

Through the Pediatric Dentistry program, dental students, pediatric residents, fellows and faculty provide dental care to Medicaid eligible children in Connecticut. The school's AEGD residents provide comprehensive dental care to both children and adults at four community health centers.

Project Activities
Over the next four years, the School of Dental Medicine will:

1. Increase the number of days students work in community clinics and private practices from 22 to 75.
2. Develop new community partnerships for student and resident rotations with private practitioners who care for the underserved.
3. Implement new community-based clinical tracks in Community Health Center - Comprehensive Care.
4. Expand the current mentor program by appointing community health center dentists as program faculty and matching students to these mentors.
5. Revise Years 3 and 4 curricula to include new/revised courses and modules in geriatric and special needs dentistry, public health care policy, culture and dental care, and community health center-based practice management.
6. Develop a national symposium on the needs of the underserved for the Year 4 program.
7. Develop a web-based module that will allow students at community sites to communicate with intramural faculty.
8. Implement a minority scholarship program that reduces debt incurred during the undergraduate years.
9. Identify, mentor and expose promising high school students to dentistry as a future career and guide them towards a combined BS/DMD degree.
10. Provide post-baccalaureate training with an emphasis on the Dental Admissions Test, study-skills and the basic sciences.