Dr. Tom Boran’s commitment to outreach is well-known. The recently-retired dean of the Faculty of Dentistry spoke often and with pride about the faculty’s initiatives to provide exceptional oral health care to the community.

The Immigration & Refugee Clinic

The Immigration & Refugee Clinic is just one of the outreach initiatives that came into being during Dr. Boran’s time as dean. In 2012, Heather Doucette, assistant professor in the School of Dental Hygiene, worked with her colleagues to develop a partnership with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), a community organization that provides assistance to the province’s new immigrants. Since then, students have been helping new immigrants improve their oral health care and gain valuable clinical skills and experience themselves.

“The oral health outreach programs are a win-win-win for all involved,” says Susan Keating-Bekkers (DDH’91), a long-term supporter and volunteer instructor in the faculty. “The students improve their skills at a much faster rate. Dalhousie continues to give back to the community, and underserved populations receive oral health care.”

The success of the Immigration & Refugee Clinic is just one example of some 18 different outreach initiatives of the Faculty of Dentistry. The reach of these programs extends from around the corner, to around the world. They include everything from providing dental hygiene services at the North End Community Health Centre in Halifax, to the oral and maxillofacial surgery team’s annual missions to perform free corrective surgery on children with congenital cleft lip and palate in Vietnam.

Dental and dental hygiene students and faculty treat more than 6,000 patients a year through a wide range of outreach clinics and programs, serving low income families, the homeless, children, refugees, the elderly and other populations.

More than a skillset

Through their outreach experiences, students learn about the compassionate care of others, particularly those who have limited or no access to treatment. The work that they do within community clinics, schools, and care facilities during their studies helps to cultivate a lifelong desire to give back, with many students continuing their outreach work in private practice long after they graduate.

“The most rewarding part of the work we’ve done here is seeing how appreciative the patients are, because this is dental work they otherwise would not receive,” says Abby Barton, Dalhousie Dentistry Class of 2017, North End Community Health Centre.

These programs owe their success to alumni, says Dr. Boran, who served as dean from 2008 to 2017. “Alumni support enabled us to take our outreach to a whole new level.”

Honouring a commitment to service

Now, through a fund set up in Dr. Boran’s name, this legacy of giving and community outreach will continue.

In recognition of his passionate advocacy for giving back to the community, the Dr. Tom Boran Oral Health Outreach Fund was established to support and expand the faculty’s outreach activities. “It’s a legacy the faculty is committed to building upon”, says Dr. Ben Davis, acting dean.

“Central to our mission as a faculty is providing oral health care as an integral part of overall health,” says Dr. Davis. “The Dr. Tom Boran Oral Health Outreach Fund supports this mission by ensuring that underserved populations receive access to treatment and exceptional oral health care. We are pleased to help make sure these programs continue through ongoing fundraising efforts for this fund.”

If you would like to help expand the scope and quality of our community outreach and clinical experiences for students in the Faculty of Dentistry, please make a gift to the Dr. Tom Boran Oral Health Outreach Fund.