Filling the Gap: U of T Dentistry Students provide care for communities in need
By Rachel Boutet
When DDS4 student Abir Islam heard about the Filling the Gap Dental Outreach program, he jumped at the opportunity to help those in need.
“After travelling to Grenada last summer with the 30 other U of T Dentistry students to help people there, I thought, why not give back to my own community as well,” he says. “I know the troubles these communities have to access because it’s a community I grew up with, so it came full circle for me.”
Filling the Gap Dental Outreach is a non-profit organization that provides affordable urgent dental care by volunteer dentists to low-income, uninsured Torontonians, including new immigrants, refugees, and those experiencing homelessness. Services include emergency exams, fillings, extractions, pulpectomies, root canal treatments, and dentures.
The Faculty provided DDS4 students a volunteer opportunity through “Filling the Gap Dental Outreach” rotations as part of the Dental Outreach Community Services course.
This course was designed to enlighten dental students on dentistry's pivotal role in enhancing health and achieving health equity within the community. It offers a diverse educational experience, addressing the challenges of delivering care to those in need. Students visit community partner clinics, collaborate with local dental care providers, and confront real oral health challenges as part of a community-based outreach initiative. Emphasis is placed on promoting oral health prevention and treatment. Students closely collaborate with the entire team, maintaining professionalism, and may perform procedures learned in their clinical studies, subject to approval by the student and supervising dentist. Daily reports on treated cases are also completed.
“We hope the course will help broaden our students’ perspectives on the challenges many people in the GTA face when gaining access to dental care,” says professor Amir Azarpazhooh, who is also the Faculty’s course director of dental outreach community services and dental outreach global services “It was amazing to see how many students were interested in this volunteer opportunity, and also what they gained through their experience.”
Ken Szainwald, clinical instructor at the Faculty, shared his experience with the fourth-year students through the Filling the Gap Outreach program.
“I’ve been a restorative instructor for many years, but this program allowed me to observe the students as they performed restorative, endodontic, and surgical procedures,” he says. “All the students had a very positive experience, especially knowing that they were helping a segment in our society who are disadvantaged at the present time. The patients were very appreciative of the excellent treatment that they received.”
28 students, including Islam, participated this past year. He says the experience helped him learn what life after dental school might feel like.
“Treating the patients had some similarity to what we do at the Faculty, but I felt like I had a bit more autonomy – the doctors were a bit more hands off and let us make the call,” he says. “It felt like one more step closer to private practice and doing this on my own.”
Islam also noted the impact he felt he made on the patients he treated.
“I was exposed to a different demographic of patients and it helped to reinforce the need to also focus on the interpersonal aspect of treatments, especially with language barriers,” he says. “I was able to help calm patients down, tell them what’s wrong, and help them feel comfortable through the process. It might be one patient for me, but it can be a lifelong change for the patient.”
Elizabeth, one of the patients who benefited through services from students like Islam, says she can’t describe how grateful she is for her experience.
“I, like many, happen to be in a financial strain after Covid and put off going to the dentist, only for my dental issues to worsen,” she says. “There are many people like me in similar situations, where you're not on the system so financial support for dental services are not covered. Nor do you have dental insurance because you are self employed or your job does not provide any benefits, so everything has to be paid out of pocket. But given the cost of living most can't afford to pay for private dental care. I am grateful to doctors and the University of Toronto team for helping me. With their help, I'm finally getting back on track with my dental care."
Islam is graduating this June, with hopes of leaving the city for a bit, going up North to a rural community like Thunder Bay. He looks forward to taking his experience with Filling the Gap and applying it to the next stage of his dental career.
To learn more about Filling the Gap Outreach, visit: www.fillingthegap.ca