UB Dental BOCA is a student-led organization dedicated to promoting dental education, providing free dental care and improving the quality of life for people around the world. Our members include dental school students, faculty and staff.
The word BOCA, which means “mouth” in Spanish, signifies our dedication to oral health care, as well as our goal of advocating for more universal access to dental care worldwide.
We support communities by participating in health fairs and dental screening programs, as well as volunteering at non-dental outreach events. Our goal is to address both the oral healthcare needs and the socioeconomic needs of the communities we serve.
For dental missions, we strive to provide the dental care most needed by a particular community, including:
We have provided the equivalent of nearly $4,000,000 in free dental work.
While the most important beneficiaries of our dental work are the patients, the dental students who attend these missions are also rewarded. In addition to gaining insight into lives that are often less privileged than their own, students have the opportunity to do extraordinary amounts of dental work; depending on the trip, the average student performs between 30-60 extractions and up to 25 restorations in a week.
We focus on those areas of Buffalo — and the world — that lack adequate access to care.
Our volunteer work includes:
We’ve helped organizations throughout Western New York, including:
This outreach program — the only program currently serving the at-risk Buffalo Hispanic population — helps address oral health needs, promote oral health and provide screenings.
UB Dental BOCA offers domestic outreach programs in partnership with Remote Area Medical (RAM). Groups of approximately 20 dental students, accompanied by School of Dental Medicine faculty members, provide donated dental care to underserved communities within the United States. The majority of our outreach programs with RAM take place in Tennessee and Kentucky, and are typically a weekend experience.
Over the years we have led outreach programs in the Dominican Republic, Senegal, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, Tonga and Vietnam.
UB Dental BOCA organizes several outreach programs in various international locations every year, typically for a one-week duration over spring or summer break. These programs offer our dental students and faculty members the opportunity to provide much-needed care, while experiencing new cultures.
Our international outreach is supported in part by Henry Schein.
Title | Name |
---|---|
President | Tobiras Whitefield |
President Elect | Amanda Engel |
Treasurer | Winnie Mei |
Treasurer Elect | Julia Ophals |
Secretary | Heather Tamburro |
Secretary Elect | Saya Patel |
Fundraising Chairs | Paul DiMarzo, Matthew Fasulo, Holly McLean |
Fundraising Chair Elects | Kodia Al Sharqi, Jordan Chatelle, Serena Sanon |
Outreach Coordinators | Paige Francesconi, Ava Walch |
Outreach Coordinator Elect | Olivia Littman, Rachel Steffan |
Public Relations Chair | Gabi Dierna |
Public Relations Chair Elect | Wesley Wolf |
sdm-boca-officers-list@listserv.buffalo.edu
Matt Blum
Director of Student Affairs
Office of Student Affairs / Admissions