Spring 2024: Practicum Project

Presenter: Alexis Hariri, Public Health Science, Global Public Health Scholars

---

---

---

For my practicum, I had the privilege of shadowing an oral surgeon here in Maryland at Smile Makers Dental Office to better understand firsthand the importance of seeing a dentist biannually. Here, I observed procedures as well as the implications dental care has on an individual's wallet. As a student studying public health science, I have always been both saddened and interested in the barriers social determinants of health hold in an individual's ability to seek adequate health care. Therefore, it is no surprise that it is extremely common for a person in need of an oral procedure to not be covered by dental insurance and to pay for their expenses out of pocket. While healthcare as a whole has been proven to support individuals of certain socioeconomic status more than others, dental care often goes disregarded until a problem arises. By not seeing a general dentist, many once-preventable conditions become painful and sometimes life-threatening. To this extent, oral diseases and conditions affect nearly half of all people globally; this adds up to 3.5 billion people around the world.