tEEEth talk community education workshops: An opportunity for pre-clinical service-learning

Service-learning and other forms of experiential education help students develop an understanding of population diversity, community dynamics, and how the two come together within social structures to influence health outcomes. In pre-doctoral dental education, the bulk of service-learning opportunities are concentrated toward the clinical years of training, as this also addresses the needs of underserved areas. Such external community rotations are invaluable to clinical and professional development; however, focus on clinical care during these experiences may cause students to miss opportunities to learn about social factors that impact health. Pre-clinical years may be an ideal time to engage future clinicians in these considerations.

The Virginia Commonwealth University DDS Class of 2016 has partnered with the Parent-Teacher Associations of Richmond City Schools to provide interactive tEEEth talk workshops, aimed at educating about oral health, equipping participants with oral hygiene supplies, and engaging the community in local oral healthcare resources. Student volunteers in their pre-clinical years have appropriately applied didactic coursework into educational presentations and have positively reflected on their engagement in communities of low oral health literacy. Extending this outreach to community recreational centers, students gained a broader understanding of the geographic determinants of oral health. Offering similar workshops in facilities for the elderly and disabled has the potential to introduce pre-doctoral dental students in their pre-clinical years to factors that influence oral health for diverse populations before treating them as clinicians. Such programs may be emulated as service-learning becomes an accreditation standard for the full duration of pre-doctoral dental training.