A great part of nutrition comes from the patient’s ability to eat, but due to much of the geriatric population’s missing dentition and lack of dental care, eating and proper nutrition become very difficult to do on a daily basis. We noticed this from our very first visit to the TODCO (Tenants and Owners Development Corporation) site in San Francisco during our first year.

Patient with schizophrenia reports not having visited a dentist in 10 years. “My teeth began to really deteriorate over the last 4 4-5 years.” Presented to clinic with unrestorable decay, extensive caries, multiple root tips, chronic apical abscesses.

There is limited research on the impact of reflective writing on dental student empathy levels. This paper aims to gather reflective data from dental students and evaluate the impact community health has had on their dental school career.