On Friday night, May 29, from 5-7 we celebrated the grand opening of the St. Vincent's Student Run Free Clinic's new dental clinic. We had a light reception meal and a ribbon cutting ceremony. We also awarded the two medical students that led the project to completion, Tyler Bliss and Tracy Cable.
Funded by a $50,000 grant from the President's Cabinet, this is a new outreach to homeless, uninsured, and underserved with severe dental needs. We have spent the better part of 9 months to put the equipment and program into place, staffed by the generosity of local dentist Bill Glenn and UTMB oral surgeon Roger Throndson.
Medical students and others will assist them in helping people who otherwise have nowhere to get their dental problems taken care of. The clinic will focus on extractions. Many of these folks show up weekly at the Luke Society to get antibiotics for their chronic infections which never really solves the problem so now the clinic is open to provide dental services such as tooth extraction, drainage of periodontal abscesses, and treatment of gum and mouth infections at the St. Vincent's Clinic.
St. Vincent's Ribbon Cutting Grand Opening
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UTMB Health Student Tracy Cable and Faculty Member Victor S. Sierpina, MD
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UTMB Health Student Tyler Bliss and Faculty Member Victor S. Sierpina, MD
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Students cut the ribbon to the clinic
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Local supporting dentist: Dr. Throndson and Dr. Glenn
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l to r: Dr. Throndson, Dr. Glenn, Tracy Cable, MSIV, Tyler Bliss, MSIV, Rev. Amma Freda, Executive Director of St. Vincent's and Dr. Sierpina
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Tracy Cable, Shannon Samuelson and Tyler Bliss
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