Providing healthier smiles in Houston

Dental student Juan La Rotta with Jane Evans, Dallas County Dental Society’s executive director; dental student Diana Gerardino Medina; and alumnus Dr. Tommy Harrison at the Texas Mission of Mercy event in Houston.

About 20 Texas A&M College of Dentistry students traveled to Houston Sept. 26–27 to participate in the Texas Mission of Mercy’s mobile dental clinic, providing dental care to underserved patients. Drs. Susan Jolliff, an adjunct professor in public health sciences, and Simmi Patel, clinical assistant professor in public health sciences and dental director of Now Forward, supervised the students.

Dental student Ethan Chang at the Texas Mission of Mercy event in Houston.

Patients, some of whom arrived as early as 5 a.m., sought relief and restoration. It’s estimated that about $883,000 in dental care was donated to 724 patients by volunteers, Jane Evans, executive director of Dallas County Dental Society, reported. A&M Dental’s Office of Community Outreach estimated that the college’s students provided about $73,000.