The Community Dental Clinic at UCSF is both an educational and service project. The education component is focused on educating dental studetns about the root causes of homelessness in the United States. It also provides an education structure where socially conscious students can give back to the community during their school years with the hopes that they will be actively involved in solving similiar problems in their communities after they graduate.

The service component provides safety-net dental services to people that have no access to care. The homeless people that the project serves are not eligible for any state programs. The project can only provide limited dental care to a very small number of clients.

Personally, the project does "my heart good" to see the large number of students that are interested in one of the most difficult social problems we have in this country. I want to thank all the students that have been involed in the project since it began.

Sincerely,

Steven J. Silverstein, DMD, MPH
Director