UTSD students joined other volunteers at a joint UTHealth/Houston Rockets Health Fair earlier this fall. They were invited by Dr. Asif Ali, clinical assistant professor with UTHealth.

Two University of Texas School of Dentistry organizations – the Hispanic Student Dental Association and the Asian American Student Dental Association – joined forces to help with a health fair sponsored by UT Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Houston Rockets in September at Toyota Center, providing oral hygiene instructions, oral screenings and distributing toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss to the approximately 100 children who participated. UTSD students also provided information about affordable dental care to the parents of the children being screened.

Drs. Graciela Hernandez and Lisa Tran supervised the student volunteers, who included Ricardo Munoz, Huyen-Tran Tran, Liana Tam, Lily Nguyen, Nina Tran, Nhung Pham, Bichvan Nguyen, Fouzia Mohammad, Cynthia Corral, Jennifer Miller, Jenny Crow, Jacky Flores, Faryn Vela, Bien Dang and Joe Holland. 

The health fair also provided other types of health screenings, nutritional and safety information, fitness instructions, school immunizations, school supplies and information about social service resources. Working with UTSD’s community partners, economically challenged families were pre-selected and invited to attend in an effort to find children who would benefit from the event.

HSDA Community Service Officer Ricardo Munoz said it was time well spent.

“I believe prevention is the best way of providing dental care, and events like these are a great way of getting important information to parents of young children,” he said. “The HSDA is proud to be an active part of the community and will continue to find ways to provide information and care to the underserved population of Houston. Volunteering in this event was a very rewarding experience for me.”