About Dental Camp

Through collaboration between the University of Washington School of Dentistry and the Washington Dental Service Foundation, a “pipeline-building” program called Dental Camp was first conducted during the summer of 2002 in Seattle, WA. Since its beginning, the objective of Dental Camp has been to provide adolescents from communities that have traditionally been underserved by the dental profession with opportunities to perform dental procedures and training exercises in a simulation laboratory environment, the same way dental students receive the early parts of their training. It is our hope that by targeting adolescents from communities that are underserved by the dental profession, Dental Camp will serve as a career catalyst for these youth, resulting in significant increases in the diversity of the dental professional and reductions in the magnitude of oral health inequities and disparities.

The educational and “hands-on” curriculum of Dental Camp program is designed to meet three important, but different objectives. These objectives include stimulating an interest in dentistry and related oral health careers, promoting academic achievement in math and science as a way of meeting these future career objectives, and expanding the “dental IQ” of adolescents.

Watch the CBS film footage about Dental Camp (Quicktime 9mb)