OHIO Project Connects with Alumni to Inspire Students
to practice in underserved communities.
The OHIO Project is more than a project. As the acronym in its name suggests, the OHIO Project provides Oral Health Improvement through Outreach.
“The program is modeled on the format of academic service-learning,” said Canise Bean, DMD, ’95 MPH, a professor-clinical emeritus in the Division of Restorative and Prosthetic Dentistry. “Since 2004, fourth-year dental students practice in community-based clinical sites while supervised by a faculty dentist.”
“When students graduate and go into clinical practice, they call me. They’ll often say how much the program meant to them, and now they want students to come to their practice.” - Canise Bean, DMD, ’95 MPH
While equipment, patient ages and locations of the clinics vary greatly, the sites share one thing in common: They all provide care to underserved populations. According to Dr. Bean, the community service is crucial, and students receive enhanced citizenship education that is difficult to measure.
Of the 24 participating clinical practices that accept dental students, 13 of them are staffed by College of Dentistry alumni.
“The students remember the OHIO Project,” Dr. Bean said. “When students graduate and go into clinical practice, they call me. They’ll often say how much the program meant to them, and now they want students to come to their practice.”
Patients of every age benefit from the OHIO Project. One well-known site in the Columbus area is the kid-specific mobile dental coach owned by the college, which visits elementary schools in the Columbus City School District. “It’s a high-tech dental office on wheels,” Dr. Bean said. “There’s a real partnership with school nurses helping facilitate regular visits.”
Dr. Bean sees the OHIO Project as a perfect blend of dentistry and public health.
“My favorite part of the Project is talking with students before they go to sites, and then hearing them reflect on the experience at end of their senior year,” she said. “Many of them hadn’t considered public health practice. In some instances, the experience encouraged them to look at serving locations where people have difficulty accessing dental care.”
OHIO Project Inspires Alumni to Practice in Underserved Communities
Carlesha Chambers, ’11 DDS, who participated in the OHIO Project as a College of Dentistry student, provides clinical care in an underserved area. Following her service in the U.S. Army, and practicing in north Columbus, she and a dental partner opened Comfort Dental in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in 2019.
“Right after we started, a pipe burst,” she said. “Then, the pandemic.”
They managed to keep their clinic open for emergencies, helping support the local hospital by providing care for emergent dental needs. And while she has no personal connection to the area, the community has been very welcoming.
“I’ve built great connections,” she said. “Many community members know about my military service. Lots of patients connect as veterans.”
Darcy Cook, ‘16 DDS, returned to Perry County, the rural area in southeast Ohio where she grew up, to practice dentistry. She works at the Hopewell Health Centers in New Lexington, Ohio, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that focuses on total health and well-being for the community. “I wouldn’t have known about FQHCs without the OHIO Project,” Dr. Cook said.
"The OHIO Project introduced me to the public health side of dentistry." - Darcy Cook, ’16 DDS
Dr. Cook became an Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary (EFDA) after high school and then worked as a Dental Office Manager. Missing patient contact, she returned to college at 28 to become a dentist. “The OHIO Project introduced me to the public health side of dentistry,” she said.
In addition to showing dental students the value of serving their communities, the OHIO Project provides an opportunity for students to see how a dental practice is operated and managed.
Dr. Cook credits the OHIO Project with helping her see the business side of running a practice and giving her an understanding of the speed and efficiency needed to be a good provider.
“Coming home to Perry County was not my original plan, but it’s where I was meant to be,” Dr. Cook said. I wanted to come back to my community to help as much as possible, and I enjoy every minute.”