Session 2

Future Dentists

The Art and Science of a Career in Dentistry

The Dentistry program is the perfect opportunity for high school students exploring a career in health care and the medical field. Through hands-on experiences, participants will gain insight and explore a rewarding career in dentistry.

Learn from dentists, alumni and staff from the world-renowned Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. During your Stockton residency and excursions to the Dugoni School on the San Francisco Campus, you’ll participate in team-building exercises, clinical shadowing experiences, hands-on clinical simulations, presentations about oral health and overall health and interactive non-academic workshops to gain confidence and tools to prepare for college and applying to dental school.

Curriculum

Participants will spend time on both the Stockton and San Francisco Campuses. On the Stockton Campus they will have lectures and seminars with Dugoni faculty, alumni, staff, students and leaders in dentistry. They will participate in team building activities and have hands on experiences taking blood pressure, managing medical emergencies and simulated suturing techniques. Students will travel to San Francisco to tour the dental school and experience simulation and research activities in our state-of-the-art facilities. And they will visit places where people receive dental care, including private practices and community health clinics. Students will work in groups with a faculty or student mentor to prepare a presentation on a topic in oral health care. Topics could include a presentation designed for elementary school children about oral hygiene, the different materials or procedures used to fill cavities or replace missing teeth, how to prevent dental diseases such as cavities and gum disease or an overview of specialties in dentistry.

dental student working on a model
Planned Topics

Participants in this program will better understand and appreciate the full scope of practice and career opportunities in dentistry and dental hygiene.

Programming will include an overview of oral health and disease, basic dental terminology and anatomy, prevention of oral diseases, pre-clinical simulation activities including local anesthesiology, basic science research, dental radiology, community oral health and careers in dentistry.

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Elisa Chavez
Faculty Co-Lead
Elisa Chavez

Professor | Diagnostic Sciences & Director | Pacific Center for Equity in Oral Health Care

Elisa M. Chávez, DDS is a professor in the Department of Diagnostic Sciences at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. She graduated from The University of California San Francisco, School of Dentistry and earned her certificate in geriatric dentistry from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Chávez has practiced in private, community health, long-term care and hospital settings including Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe in her hometown of El Paso Texas, the Veteran’s Administration in Ann Arbor, Michigan, The Jewish Home for the Aged in San Francisco and On Lok PACE in the Bay Area. She has served on the California Dental Association Medicare Task Force and, as a recent Founder’s Fellow and Scholar with The Santa Fe Group, she has been an advocate for the oral health needs of older adults nationwide. She is the Director of the Pacific Center for Equity in Oral Health Care.

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Faculty Co-Lead
Bernadette Fa

Associate Professor, Preventive & Restorative Dentistry

In 2006, Dr. Bernadette Alvear Fa graduated from University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. Dr. Alvear Fa is currently an associate professor in the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry and is Director of Local Anesthesia Curriculum and Self-Care Content Coordinator. She worked as an Associate General Dentist in the East Bay (with her father), Long Beach Children's Dental Health Clinic, Faculty Practice at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) School of Dental Medicine, and the Faculty Dental Service Group at Dugoni Pacific. Before coming to Dugoni Pacific, she was a clinical instructor at UIC. Her research interests and publications are associated with local anesthesia in dentistry and self-care/wellness. Dr. Alvear Fa enjoys golf, hiking and time at the lake with her family.

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Bernadette Fa
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