Boston Area Students Complete Second Annual Program White Coat

Children ages 9-11 from Boston and surrounding towns completed Program White Coat July 27. The four-day program, now in its second year, introduced participants to careers in health care with a focus on dentistry. Children don white coats as they become “dental professionals for the week,” meeting July 24 to July 27 for an interactive schedule emphasizing professionalism.

Students learned about vital signs, proper nutrition and oral hygiene, infection control, and X-ray development with BUSDM faculty; role-played in the Simulation Learning Center; ran an experiment at CityLab; took impressions; toured the dental laboratory where dentures are made; and visited Tom’s of Maine.

“Only about 1.5% of the national applicant pool to dentistry is from Massachusetts,” said Director of Program White Coat Dr. Ana Karina Mascarenhas. “By exposing Boston youth to careers in dentistry early we hope to increase the Massachusetts applicant pool and access to dental care.”

Joe Ayitey-Adjin DMD 09 volunteered for the second year to play Captain Cavity Fighter (CCF), the students’ role model who helps run the program’s activities.

BUSDM’s Department of Health Policy and Health Services Research organized the program through funding from Delta Dental, offering partial and full scholarships for students to attend.