The Department of Public Health and Community Service (PHCS) at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM) firmly believes that experiential and service learning, along with community engagement, are inseparable from proper dental education. Developing the next generation of global dental leaders requires the development of community listening skills, compassion, advocacy, and engagement. Students are strongly encouraged and supported to practice these skills.
Below is a sampling of initiatives where PHCS faculty work closely with students and the many TUSDM student clubs to meet the oral health educational needs in a variety of communities. Our faculty and staff run both ongoing community programs, as well as one-time event activities. This work receives ongoing support by Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and changes to respond to the needs of the current environment.
Community Service by Student Groups
TUSDM has an active roster of over 40 student organizations, many of which prioritize volunteering to provide community-based oral health education. From unhoused veterans and people with special needs to children and families living with the effects of health and race disparities, the PHCS Department endeavors to respond to all requests from community partners for oral health instruction and activities.
From our host community in Boston’s Chinatown to global service learning in countries, including the Dominican Republic, Greece, and Uganda, students provide on-site or telehealth screenings and education and support community members find a dental home. We teach students how to work with vulnerable populations to deepen their understanding of the social determinants of health and to strengthen their skills providing care and education.
Students do this work through clubs such as Smiles for Veterans, Smiles for Life, American Pediatric Dental Association (AAPD), Hispanic Student Dental Association (HSDA), Students National Dental Association (SNDA), Autism Smiles, and The Smile Squad, etc.
Other student groups like Teletutoring by Tufts (TBT), StoryTime, and Cherish Chinatown provide other important community partners by tutoring kids and participating in neighborhood cleanups.
Contact: Dainya Hannan
Examples of Community Service and Engagement
Take a look at the many and varied ways our students are engaging with the world to make patient’s lives better.
For even more information about student groups and community engagement, please visit TUSDM Dental Central for information on volunteer opportunities.
Autism Smiles offers support to parents and caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by providing resources and tools to familiarize and prepare them for dental settings. It gives dental students the experience of connecting with families of children with ASD and hones their skills. With the telehealth model, families are sent a sensory toolkit in advance of their virtual appointment. During the appointment. TUSDM students share what to expect at a dental appointment, review oral hygiene instructions, and review the free sensory tool kit items they received in the mail.
Leads: Martha Forero and Zhanea Nicholson
Organized in partnership with TUSDM’s Pediatric Department and PHCS faculty, TUSDM hosts Give Kids A Smile – a national initiative created in 2003 by the American Dental Association (ADA) Foundation to promote pediatric oral health in underserved communities. During this special once a year event, TUSDM students provide children around the Boston area with free preventive and/or restorative dental services. Students also offer oral health education to children, parents, and caregivers.
Lead: Martha Forero
Global Service Learning fosters intercultural understanding while providing oral health services to underserved populations identified by partnering agencies, institutions, and universities. The goal of the GSL program is to enhance understanding of the social determinants of health, improve oral health equity and prepare an oral health workforce who are leaders in global oral health. Students work closely with faculty to plan trips abroad. Past international outreach sites have included the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru, Uganda, and Zambia.
Lead: Athanasios Zavras
External Community Relations
In addition to working with students, our faculty volunteer their time to provide content expertise and testimony on how to improve population oral health and engage with multiple key stakeholders locally, state-wide, and nationally. Under the guidance and direction of Department Chair and Delta Dental of Massachusetts Professor Athanasios Zavras, PHCS represents TUSDM and participates actively in multiple internal organizations, such as the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute and external community and professional organizations such as the Massachusetts Department of Oral Health, the State Commission on Oral Health, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, the Massachusetts Public Health Association, and other key stakeholders.
Department faculty provide consultations, give testimony and author key articles and reports, such as the Oral Health of the Nation publication from National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to assist in the development of national and state health policies that improve dental access for all. Internationally, the department has started a range of activities to shape and disseminate the Global Oral Health Report by the World Health Organization, a pivotal publication that documented for the first time the impact of oral diseases on a global scale.
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