DMD-721: Community Outreach/Service-Learning V– Local and Global Health

This course is continuous throughout the D-1, D-2, D-3, and D-4 years (I – XI) and involves community service-learning theory and practice. Courses IV-VI focuses on Local and Global Health. Through Remote Area Medical, the Health Wagon, and Smile TN, students partner with non-profit agencies and programs serving the underserved populations of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and Georgia. Additionally, students will visit elementary and junior high schools to provide health promotion education to students in oral disease prevention, tobacco cessation, and drug avoidance. Student engagement, reflection, reciprocity, and public dissemination are vehicles for the implementation of service- learning. Students will have an opportunity to participate in humanitarian mission trips to Uganda and Belize to provide dental care to the underserved. These courses are designed to enhance students' understanding of the social determinants of illness, community public health dentistry, and civic engagement.