The Dental Research Explorer Post, which helps high school and college students interested in dentistry learn more about the profession, on Saturday held its first session of the new school year.
The post, sponsored by the UMKC School of Dentistry in collaboration with the Boy Scouts of America Exploring Division, regularly presents information on dental specialties through faculty, alumni and community guest speakers and hands-on activities. Members of the Student National Dental Association/Hispanic Student Dental Association help with the hands-on experience.
This past weekend, Dr. Tiffany Tavares, DDS, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, spoke on her specialty, oral pathology. She covered case studies on an array of conditions including autoimmune diseases, cancer and genetic disorders. She also fielded questions from the participants and their parents.
After a pizza break, the students then went to a lab to learn how to conduct a biopsy. Besides Dr. Tavares, faculty members Dr. Derek Williams and John L. Cottrell were on hand to help. The SNDA/HSDA members who helped out were Rue Erhenede, Mahaam Qadeer, Taylor Johnson, Lena Adams, Drew Chatters Meshal Alborno, Kim Kha, Shurouk Alkharabsheh, Meredith Gomes, Yasmeen Qadi, Njeri Penda, Anthony Spates, Chanelle Roberts, Safa Nawazish and Uyen Hoang.