Taking Pride in Community Outreach Dentistry

When Ilham Abdalla (DDS '25) started her outreach rotation, she knew she would be helping patients who had challenges finding affordable and accessible dental care along the Red River.

The School of Dentistry has a strong commitment to community outreach, and its community oral health programs are an important part of both its education and service mission. Students like Abdalla gain valuable, hands-on experience through community outreach activities, and it is a requirement for graduation. The Division of Community Outreach and Engagement has partnered with 21 affiliate clinics in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota to assist students in fulfilling their community outreach experience course requirements.

Abdalla completed her recent outreach rotation at Family HealthCare Dental Clinic in Moorhead, Minnesota. The clinic offers comprehensive primary, dental and vision care, and plays an important role in supporting public health in Moorhead. By providing preventive medicine and consistent management of disease for vulnerable community members with low incomes and diverse backgrounds, the clinic reduces hospitalizations and complications from untreated health problems.

Abdalla was surprised at how many patients were from Sudan, where she and her family are also from but have been sadly unable to visit since the war started there in early 2023. One of her Sudanese-American patients said she was proud of Abdalla for becoming a dentist. "It was a truly emotional moment for me," Abdalla shared. "To hear my dialect spoken back to me and build that instant rapport with patients felt like a piece of home."

The outreach experience with the School of Dentistry in Moorhead has helped prepare Abdalla as a future provider for a diversity of patient populations. "I was truly grateful for this outreach experience and look forward to the next one this March."