The overall goal of the UCSF Open Smiles Collaborative is to improve the oral health of vulnerable, underserved, and rural children in California by expanding and enhancing our post-doctoral training programs in Pediatric Dentistry (PD) and Dental Public Health (DPH) at UCSF School of Dentistry. 

Using a collaborative training approach, we will achieve this goal by enhancing a cross-learning curricula for PD and DPH trainees, expanding the experiential learning of PD and DPH dentists in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), expanding experiential learning of PD and DPH trainees in rural local oral health programs (LOHPs), and expanding the DPH recruitment pipeline.

Our collaboration offers the additional benefit of providing expanded opportunities for dentists to pursue dual specialties while training leaders in PD and DPH for a new era of enhanced and inclusive pediatric care, access and equity.