Holly SelbyIt was clear to Daphnie Sumah that the little girl was nervous as she entered the school cafeteria and climbed into the makeshift dental chair. Sumah, a member of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry’s (UMSOD) Class of 2026, took a few moments to chat with the child and explain what to expect.
“I gradually watched her begin to relax in the chair,” Sumah said. “It was a meaningful interaction that reminded me how taking just a few extra moments to build trust can make a big difference in a patient’s experience — especially for children.”
Sumah was among eight dental students who spent their spring break on the Samaná Peninsula, in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic, providing free oral health care to underserved residents.
As part of a collaboration between UMSOD and the Rotary Club of Baltimore, the students and their faculty supervisors spent March 9-13 offering dental treatments to 406 children. The Rotary Club is a nonprofit dedicated to improving lives locally and globally; additional partners in the effort included local Rotarians and other local health care professionals.
UMSOD Dean’s Faculty members Ryan Linn, DMD, and Nicole Quezada, DMD, served as supervisors as the students visited the communities of Sanchez and Santa Barbara, where they performed extractions, cleanings, and fillings, and demonstrated proper oral health techniques to the children and their families.
‘Eye-Opening Experience’
This was the third year that UMSOD students have traveled to the Dominican Republic. The trips are sponsored by Barry W. Rosenthal, DDS ’78, who in 2019 established the Barry W. Rosenthal ’78 DDS Humanitarian Experiences Fund to provide international volunteer opportunities to dental students.
“For one week, we converted a school cafeteria and classroom into a dental clinic. It was an eye-opening experience,” Sumah said. “The logistics and planning that went into making this clinic a reality were impressive, and it was inspiring to see how everyone came together to make it a success.”
For Benjamin Hung, Class of 2026, who had participated in an overseas trip as an undergraduate, the opportunity to provide hands-on oral health treatment was gratifying.
“It was a rewarding experience to finally be on the other side and treating the patients directly,” he said. “I also learned the impact these Rotary trips can have on the community — since the students rotate in every year, we found a good majority of the patients only needed small fillings or cleaning, showing the impact of the Rotarians over time.”
