Gum Moon Prevention and Oral Health Resources Program

My PIP project ended up being a great extension to ICS community field project we had

during our first year of dental school. For that assignment, my classmate Rachel and I chose to

visit Gum Moon Women’s Residence in Chinatown, San Francisco. This visit brought awareness

that there was a lack in dental resources for the women who lived there. There was a public

health nurse that occasionally came by, but the residents were merely told to go to nearby public

clinics if they presented with a dental problem. Further interviewing revealed that there were a

few barriers that contributed to the women not seeking regular dental care, which included

transportation, lack of access, and language barriers. My goal in developing this PIP project was

to introduce oral health resources to the residence in a culturally appropriate manner, assess the

outcomes, and to plan for continuity. My classmates and I coordinated a day for this

informational oral health event where we sat down with the residents and communicated with

them in their native language. To do this, we first made flyers to advertise the event at the

residence. On the day of the event, we brought brochures, lists of nearby dental clinics, typodont

models, and goodie bags to engage the residents. Overall, I think our project was quite successful

in providing the residents with the dental resources that they previously did not have. We had a

small turn out, so perhaps we could have done more advertising to recruit more people to the

event. However, with the small group that we had, we were able to sit down with each person

individually and discuss their oral health concerns, demonstrate ways to improve their oral

hygiene, and give recommendations on places to receive continuing care. We did a brief survey

with the residents after the event to gain insight on their thoughts about the event. All of the

participants expressed satisfaction with the information that they received and said they would be
interested in returning for more events. This feedback was great to hear and makes me excited

for future dental students to bring back this event for years to come.