RIDE dentists reach out

Providing dental health for rural communities, the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program trains dental students while familiarizing them with traditionally underserved areas.

The RIDE program was originally an expansion of the University of Washington School of Dentistry in conjunction with EWU. The program partners with other dentists, community health centers and other organizations to create regional training sites in areas lacking dental schools.

Up to eight students are admitted to the program and spend their first year in a four-week summer rotation at a community-based practice site. After in-school training during their next two years, students spend their fourth year serving at the same or a similar regional environment.

Associate professor and RIDE director Dr. Art DiMarco commented on the program’s progress.

“The collaborative atmosphere  –community, institutional, interprofessional, and interdisciplinary –in which RIDE exists is incredibly focused,” said DiMarco. “The RIDE program is receiving considerable regional and national scrutiny.”

He explained that the program also gives students first-hand experience. “Immersing students in underserved environments introduces them to challenges that rural and underserved communities face each day when it comes to the unmet oral health needs of their citizens,” DiMarco said.

Having many dental students decide to stay in urban areas to practice programs such as RIDE helps with the placement of more dentists in those areas that are typically underserved. By exposing students to these regions during their training, DiMarco said that many will choose to stay in those areas that “generally tend to fall beneath their (graduates) radar.”

The program enhances the relationship between universities and the communities in which they exist. The RIDE program is supported by many professional organizations throughout Washington, with members of the Spokane District Dental Society providing their expertise and teaching on a regular basis.

DiMarco explained that the program also meets inter-institutional objectives as well. Being housed at Riverpoint, the program benefits from strong support from both EWU and WSU, while also drawing faculty from UW.

Both RIDE and WSU’s School of Medicine’s Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho (WWAMI) Program at Riverpoint have promoted a large variety of inter-institutional opportunities and collaborations.

“RIDE has also made use of distance learning and simulcast technology to assure equivalency in educational outcomes with the dental school and has had the benefit of strong support from both EWU and WSU in getting critical information to the students,” DiMarco said.

DiMarco explained that interdisciplinary goals are met through the sharing of classrooms that contain a mix of medical and dental hygiene students. “RIDE students team up with dental hygiene students as they learn about oral disease together in two separate courses,” DiMarco said.

RIDE was originally modeled after WWAMI, a program that has expanded medical education beyond Seattle for several decades. After several years of planning, the RIDE program has now become fully functional.

“It has been my privilege to have been, and to continue to be, associtated with this program as director,” said DiMarco. “I cannot imagine a more exciting time to be involved in dental education.”