Delta Dental
Launched in 2023, the Delta Dental Oral Health Diversity Fund invests up to $1 million annually in comprehensive solutions, innovative pilots, and scalable models that inspire school-aged children from historically underrepresented groups to pursue a career in oral health.
Inaugural Delta Dental Oral Health Diversity Fund awardees include four organizations focused on inspiring school-aged children from historically underrepresented groups to explore careers in oral health
Diversity in Dentistry Mentorships
Hispanic Dental Association
NAF
Society of American Indian Dentists
The Diversify Dentistry Youth Summit™ Tool Kit aims to inspire high school students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds to consider a career in dentistry.
The Summit's focus includes an immersive exploration of the oral health profession, engagement with diverse dental professionals, and activities designed to inspire participants to envision themselves as a dentist, highlighted by the White Coat Ceremony.
The toolkit serves as a guide for dental schools to broaden oral health career pathways by strategically engaging the communities they serve, including by hosting events similar to the Summit.
BOLD is a pre-dental school mentorship program designed to introduce dentistry as a career option and to help influence more underrepresented minorities to enter the profession.
The program will support engaging schools in underserved areas by targeting STEM-focused curriculum, teachers, and counselors to help identify students interested in a health-related career.
Outreach presentations, workshops, and hands-on sessions will be geared toward Head Start/elementary and high school/undergraduate students.
The Promoting Oral Health Pathways program is an innovative, scalable pilot that introduces oral health as an exciting, viable career path for students in NAF’s diverse network.
The program will include the launch of an Oral Health vertical within the Academy of Health Sciences curriculum, where students will be exposed to authentic, project-based learning activities.
Through NAF’s new, 100% free online platform, an Oral Health KnoPro Challenge will be created allowing students to work with and learn from experts in the field while envisioning solutions and developing skills to make informed decisions about their futures.
The Telling the Story of a Path to Dentistry: Connecting AI/AN Dentists with AI/AN Youth program is focused on increasing AI/AN representation in the dental profession as a means to reducing barriers to oral health care in all Tribal Nations.
This project will address the lack of dentist role models in AI/AN communities through AI/AN dentists serving as volunteer oral health ambassadors to Native high school students.
Armed with specifically-tailored guidance materials including training modules, SAID ambassadors will provide presentations in their community high schools, telling the story of their journey to become a dentist, and inspiring more Native youth to consider and work toward a career in dentistry.