UTSD students, faculty take dental care to Houston Rockets Health Fair

University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston dental and dental hygiene students, residents and faculty were invited to participate at the second annual Houston Rockets Health Fair in August at Toyota Center. In addition to the dental screenings and oral hygiene instructions, the health fair offered participants a variety of other health services, including flu shots and a check of vital signs, heart diagnostics and eye screenings.

Safety and fitness instructions were also provided with distribution of free bicycle helmets and backpacks. Three hundred children were screened, and parents were provided with information about affordable dental services in the surrounding Houston area.

UTSD volunteers included senior dental hygiene students Van Nguyen, Amber Lovatos, Nadia Garza, Katie Oakley, Andrea Mohs, Minh Ngo and Elizabeth Alvarado; third-year dental students Timothy Woernley, Shannon Tovson and Candice Hodges; pediatric dentistry residents Dr. Davette Johnson, Dr. Minyue Dai, Dr. Adam Shisler and Dr. Jun Wu;  UTSD staffer Vanessa Ponce; and faculty members Dr. Rebeca Weisleder, Dr. Gisela Velasquez and Margo Melchor, RDH, MEd.

“The Rockets Health Fair was a great experience; it was my first time doing oral screenings,” said Alvarado, dental hygiene senior. “It was great to help educate the parents to understand what was going on with their child. I loved interacting with the children and parents.”

Dental student Woernley said the time was well spent. “The Rockets Health Fair was an incredible way to give back to the community by teaching children how to brush their teeth and screening them for cavities,” he said. “I saw kids nonstop and loved it.”