Physicians for Peace

NORFOLK, Virginia--A Norfolk-based team of dental professionals will be in Nicaragua in July 2011 to support an initiative to create the country’s first dental hygiene program at the Universidad Autónoma in Leon.

During the two-week mission, Gayle McCombs and Tara Newcomb, faculty members in Old Dominion University’s School of Dental Hygiene, and Kendra Kleppe, a graduate student, will present lectures, develop curriculum, and assess the country’s dental hygiene needs on behalf of Physicians for Peace, an international nonprofit headquartered in Norfolk.

“The more help and expertise we can lend to the project, the more successful it will be in the long run,” said McCombs, director of ODU’s Dental Hygiene Research Center and Dental Hygiene Graduate Program.

“The main objective of the next mission is to present the curriculum to the dental school faculty and work with health officials as we move toward the implementation of the first dental hygiene program. A few years from now, I hope to be present as the first class of dental hygienists graduate.”

WDA Mission of Mercy to provide free dental care

The mission represents an important step forward in the program development at UNAN-Leon. Physicians for Peace also helped create a dental assistant program at the university. That program launched in the 2011 academic year.

On the July 2011 mission, the team will help UNAN-Leon faculty, local dentists and Nicaraguan health-care officials gain perspective on the long-term role a dental hygiene program might have in improving oral health in Nicaragua.

For more information, go to www.physiciansforpeace.org and www.facebook.com/physiciansforpeace.

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