Ronald Hunt
Dean, Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Dentistry, and
President, American Dental Education Association
November 19, 2009

A young couple, married less than five years, arrives the night before. They want to be near the head of what they have heard will be a long line. They will wait with hundreds of others for free dental treatment they otherwise could not afford. In the early morning hours, they join the line already forming, waiting until the weekend event begins. By mid-morning, they leave, the wife's decayed front tooth restored, so she doesn’t have to be too embarrassed to smile at her customers at work. Her husband’s two badly decayed and infected molars are extracted, avoiding a costly emergency room visit for pain relief. Students from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Dentistry treated the couple and hundreds of others like them.

At least six times a year, the VCU School of Dentistry and its students partner with the Virginia Dental Association (VDA) Mission of Mercy, its dentists, and local community agencies to conduct weekend dental missions. Throughout the state, volunteers work long hours in MASH-like settings, setting up portable dental chairs in schools, community centers, and other pubic sites. At the largest and longest-running mission in Wise County, more than 1,000 people will receive free dental care on a three-day weekend. Volunteer students have provided more than 9,000 patients with nearly $5 million worth of free dental care since the VDA missions began 10 years ago.

The missions not only highlight the sheer magnitude of unmet dental needs, but also demonstrate the power of university partnerships with the communities they serve. At VCU, we believe in the power of service learning, that is, learning while providing a service to the community. The Missions of Mercy are one example of service learning at the VCU School of Dentistry, but there are others.

The school also sponsors an off-campus preceptorship program in which fourth-year dental and dental hygiene students each spend more than a month treating patients in self-supporting public health clinics throughout Virginia. To maximize the experience, the students keep journals and write reflective pieces about their experiences within the clinic. When the rotations end, the program’s director uses the journals to help evaluate the needs of the program and improve the student experience overall.

On campus, the school participates in VDA’s Donated Dental Services (DDS) Program. We maintain a pool of 20 active DDS patients who receive free dental care provided by our students in downtown Richmond. The DDS Program triages patients referred by social services agencies to dental offices and the school. We actively participate in the state Medicaid program, which serves most of our pediatric dentistry patients.

The VCU School of Dentistry may be a leader in service learning and dental care for the underserved, with participation in so many community partnership programs, but we aren’t alone. We join the many institutional members of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) by promoting the ADEA Statement on Professionalism in Dental Education. The statement espouses six values-based behaviors, including “service-mindedness,” a professional obligation to serve the patient and the public.

ADEA further promotes the health of the public through the ADEA Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) and its Principles to Shape the Dental Education Environment. Interprofessional Education, one of the eight ADEA CCI principles, focuses on ways the health care team collaborates on individual patient care and partners with the community on public health care.

We hope that someday people won’t have to travel long distances and wait in long lines to receive much needed oral health care. But until then, VCU, ADEA, our fellow schools and dental associations, and our valued community partners will continue to strive for solutions for improved access to oral health care and a better quality of life for the public we serve.