{"id":5034,"date":"2012-11-21T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-11-21T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/[caption%20id=attachment_8071%20align=alignright%20width=539]"},"modified":"2018-01-22T20:01:21","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T20:01:21","slug":"sustaining-smiles-methodist-healthcare-ministries-partners-with-dental-school-to-serve-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission-old\/sustaining-smiles-methodist-healthcare-ministries-partners-with-dental-school-to-serve-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustaining smiles: Methodist Healthcare Ministries partners with Dental School to serve community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"dentists\"

The UT Health Science Center has touched the lives of thousands of patients through health care professionals who receive state-of-the art training in programs and clinics supported by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas Inc.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Marissa Lopez wanted to have beautiful teeth, so she and her mother began visiting the Ricardo Salinas Dental Clinic. “I learned to brush my teeth two times a day \u2014 in the night and in the morning \u2014 to floss and rinse my mouth with mouthwash. And now I have pretty teeth,” the smiling youngster said.<\/div>\n

The Dental School\u2019s<\/a> involvement with the Salinas Dental Clinic began in 2003 as a partnership with Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas Inc. (MHM) and the city of San Antonio, which owns the Salinas Clinic. There, working under faculty supervision, dental students and pediatric dentistry residents provide dental services to children from all areas of San Antonio. “The need for oral health care is critical,” said Kevin Donly, D.D.S., M.S., <\/a>professor and chair of developmental dentistry.<\/p>\n

The clinic is a centerpiece of the Dental School\u2019s outreach education program. It gives students and residents the opportunity to provide comprehensive care, and to learn about the needs of underserved communities and different ways to deliver care. “In a typical year, we provide about five or six procedures per patient during 5,000 patient visits,” Dr. Donly said. As a sustaining partner, MHM has contributed nearly $1.3 million to the clinic since 2002.<\/p>\n

This clinic is just one of several long-term partnerships between the Dental School
\nand MHM:<\/p>\n