The USC Dental Humanitarian Outreach Program (DHOP) has a mission to deliver USC’s quality of dentistry to underserved communities around the globe.
USC-DHOP fosters a passion to educate impoverished populations in oral hygiene and caries prevention, so that they can carry that message to a younger generation. Our objective is for local and international humanitarian groups, USC dental-students, faculty and alumni to come together with the common interest of providing the highest quality of periodontal treatment, operative dentistry, and oral surgery to those that need it most. Every year, we attempt to extend our reach. In 2009 and 2010, we organized efforts in Copan, Honduras. In 2011, our brigade served over 600 people in the deprived suburbs of Cartagena, Columbia. In December of 2012, approximately 40 dental students, 6 dentists, and several RDHs and RDAs embarked to Nairobi, Kenya. In December 2013, DHOP traveled to Treasure Beach, Jamaica to operate a 4 day Restorative and Oral Surgery clinic that served almost 400 men, women, and children. Throughout all of our travels, volunteers experienced new challenges, extreme personal and professional growth, and truly learned the definition of dedicated public service.
