Dental Missions

[burton117]

I am a pre-dental student who just graduated from Wheaton College in IL and am now finishing up my prerequisites at a local communitty college. I am very interested in finding out about opportunties to work in underserved countries and urban areas which do not have access to quality dental care. I got my undergrad in Theology and Third World Studies as well as being Pre-dental. It took five years, but I still got a few prereqs left. So, I'm focusing on gettting into dental school and am working at a local hospital.

Any resources or advice on the opportutnies or resources in this very needy area of dental care would be much appreciated.

I spent six months of last year in Sierra Leone, West Africa as an intern with World Relief, and I saw a lot of need for health care facilities and professionals in developed countries. While I was there, Mercy Ships came into Freetown, and that was pretty sweet. So, anybody out there interested in the same type of stuff or got any info, post away!

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[Hot-n-Aml]

I do know that many dental schools offer opportunities to go on missions during your 4 years, like going to Jamaica.

Also, there is a Christian Dental society,
http://www.christiandental.org/, that offers mission all over the world to dental students and professionals who are interested.

I hope this helps! take care,
Hot-n-Aml
__________________________________________________
UPitt, SDM, Class of 2007

 

[the tooth fairy]

Hey burton117
I am a D1 at Loma Linda University School of Dentistry and I also have been very interested in Dental missions around the world. In fact this is one of the big reasons that I have wanted to enter the dental profession. The need is huge! With that said that is one of the biggest reasons that I am attending LLU. They have awsome opportunities as students to go all over the world. The school sends students to over 30 countries every year. I got the opportunity to go on one of these trips to the country of Ukraine before I began school here and it was an awsome opportunity. It allows the students to use the skills that we learn to serve others and make a huge impact on others. The school also pays for a large part of your trip. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think it is something like 2/3 of your trip. Not only does LLU have opportunities around the world but also the school has many satalitte clinics around S. California that send students to regularlly. Hope this answers some of your question. If you have any more let me know.

Matt Carlson
Loma Linda School of Dentistry 07

 

[burton117]

Hey tooth fairy,

Thats really cool that you're really interested in dental missions. The opportunities to do meaningful overseas work is one of my major reasons for pursusing dentistry. and it is really neat to hear that there are others out there who are passionate about working with the poor.

Up to this point, I have looked almost exclusively at attending LLU because of the vast opportunities that there are to work in various countries around the world. You mentioned that you got to travel overseas with LLU before you went to dental school. How does that work? I would be pretty interested in finding out more about the types of international and local trips that LLU students take. Is there a strong interest in global dentistry at LLU, is it emphasized by the facluty, or are there just a select few who really are dedicated to the needs of underserved countries?

Another question I had about LLU is the extent of the "integration of faith and learning" that goes on, to take a term from my Wheaton years. Is it a dental school with some SDA/ christian students, or is it a christian dental school, or is it more of a SDA umbrella with students from all kinds of different denominations? Wheaton had a non-denominational stance, and we have students from many denominations, mostly protestant evangelicals. Does LLU fit into a similar category, or is it somewhat secular? Anyway, I guess I got a lot of questions about LLU, so I would appreciate greatly any response to these questions. I know these questions kind of put LLU in a box, but I am just trying to get a general sense of what the passions at LLU are.

Take care

 

[the tooth fairy]

Hey David

I pm you. Check it out

Matt Carlson
Loma Linda School of Dentistry 07

 

[burton117]

Hey all,

I am impressed by everybody's discussions in this online forum. There are some quality people out there who know how to inspire. Sometimes, I'll study my pre-dental stuff for a while and find myself getting tired and worn out. After reading SDN for about 30 minutes, I am ready to rock and roll my studies for another couple hours! You guys are awesome and its super cool to hear what everybodys interested in.

Also, I was wondering if there was any om surgeons out there or general dentists who do stuff overseas on an annual basis or are seriously dedicated to working in underserved countries or just plain overseas in general. I know there are lots of organizations who work in collaboration to promote health for people who lack the resources. i.e. Mercy Ships, M?decins Sans Fronti?res (Doctors without Borders), World Relief, World Vision, the Red Cross, etc... Are there any dentists or oral surgeons out there who have done stuff with these types of organizations and I would love to hear the stories and where you've been. Hopefully there are people out there who do this stuff and everybody isn't in dentistry just for the money. Post your ideas here and that would be super sweet!

Dave

 

[aphistis]

You should try visiting DentalTown's (www.dentaltown.com) forums if you want to read about some fascinating real-life experiences in dentistry. I like SDN and DT both, but I'm definitely more active here simply due to lack of experience. Seeing a good presentation of an awesome case just leaves me slack-jawed sometimes.

 

[gryffindor]

Dave,

That is a great question and Bill took the words right out of my mouth. I think you'll get a better response to your question over on DentalTown. There are most likely dentists who have participated in the missions you described who would be happy to share their info or be able to point you in the right direction.

The "DentalSchool" forum on DentalTown seems to be pretty active, maybe you could post it there. The "Charitable Dentistry" forum doesn't seem to have much action, but you may find some useful info there too.

 

[burton117]

Sweet, I'll check out Dental Town.. Thanks for the tips you guys. I appreciate it. Every bit of information I can get that gets me that much closer to Dental School is like gold to me.

Everybody can still post their overseas dental experiences here!

Dave