Bulletin of Dental Education Article

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine’s journey comes full circle as it welcomed its fourth cohort this past summer, completing the first cycle of graduate education that’s setting a new standard for compassionate, bilingual care in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

That’s part of why Ariana Ramirez, a first-year dental student, chose to attend dental school in her hometown. Ms. Ramirez was drawn to the Hunt School of Dental Medicine’s unique curriculum, including mandatory Spanish language courses and working with patients within her first semester.

“Here, I’ll get to see my patients continuously,” she said. “I get to build relationships that matter, which I value. I can’t think of a more rewarding career.”

One of 60 new dental students from the class of 2028, Ms. Ramirez and her fellow freshly minted dental students fanned out in teams across El Paso County, clipboards in hand. Their task: Get to know the needs of the residents living in several historically underserved communities around El Paso County.

This initiation rite, first practiced by their peers four years earlier, welcomed them to one of the nation’s newest and most innovative dental schools, a school that requires them to get to know their future Borderplex Region patients first.

The class of 2028 marks a significant milestone in the young school's history, which opened its doors in 2021.

For Meril Saied, a first-year dental student of El Paso, July has been a whirlwind of immersion events, from orientation to community outreach. Born in Egypt, Ms. Saied moved to El Paso with her parents as a child. Even after living in El Paso for 10 years, Ms. Saied, like most of her classmates, was unfamiliar with the lives of many living in the colonias of our Borderplex region.

>“In Egypt, we never really had dental checkups,” she said. “I didn't know that was a thing. The same here in El Paso. Both cultures share the belief, ‘I don’t need to see a dentist unless it's an emergency.’”

The school’s faculty knows only too well that it will have to address these cultural concerns head-on.

“The Class of 2028 represents not just the completion of our first full academic cycle, but also the future of dental care,” said Richard Black, D.D.S., M.S., Dean of the Hunt School of Dental Medicine. “Like the three classes that came before them, each student in this class will work directly with patients from their first semester until their last. They’ll engage in research. They’ll be ready to meet the unique needs of every community.”

Of the 60 students in the new class:

• 57% are first-generation college students.
• 63% are multilingual.
• 52% of the class comes from West Texas and the Texas border region.
• 10 individuals from El Paso County and Southern New Mexico

Courtesy of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine

Published on October 9, 2024