Improving Dental Care Access on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Bright smiles lead to healthy futures

The arrival of the Hunt School of Dental Medicine and the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic is tackling the neighborhood’s poor access to health care.

With an emphasis on caring for the 79905 ZIP code, which is home to TTUHSC El Paso’s campus, first- and second-year dental students hosted dozen of neighborhood elementary school students, providing uncompensated care to the young patients.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has designated El Paso as a Dental Health Professional Shortage Area due to its poor access to oral health care. Young children are even more vulnerable to poor oral health since they are in the process of losing baby teeth and growing permanent adult teeth.

Because most graduating dentists establish their practices in proximity to their dental schools, the Hunt School of Dental Medicine will help alleviate the severe dental provider shortage in the Borderplex and other communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.