"The event went extremely well. No one would have guessed that it was the first year- it was extremely well organized and it was welcoming to all. It was set up much like a health fair, with approximately 30 booths including wound care, haircuts, clothing, vision care, blood pressure and diabetic screening, etc.. The event was well attended- there had been 250 people through within the first 90 minutes and I can only guess that there were over 500 people in attendance, ranging from newborns to the elderly.

The booth was run by Chris and myself, 4 students (2nd through 4th year) and the dental assistant for the emergency clinic at Dal. We prepared and distributed 300 kits, which consisted of toothpaste donated by yourself and the NSDA members, and toothbrushes and floss donated by the Faculty. We (Faculty, staff and students) handed out dental kits, provided information regarding our student clinic and our school's emergency clinic, provided minor dental advice/oral hygiene instruction, and made contact with other service providers. We certainly had enough kits- in fact, we were the last people handing out kits; others had run out of comfort kits and were directing participants to our booth!

Overall, I believe that our participation was well worth the effort, both for the participants and for ourselves. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were able to reach out to a population with whom we rarely have contact (yet!). I believe it was an eye-opening experience in which they were able to witness the high dental needs of these individuals. We were also able to make contact with a variety of other service providers- including directors of homeless shelters, mobile outreach services, Department of Community Services, etc.. We did have quite a few inquiries regarding treatment and treatment facilities (with surprisingly few requests for an examination). We provided information regarding our facilities at the Faculty. From talking to the participants, it was confirmed through their stories and also from seeing the state of their teeth, that they continue to have high unmet dental needs. It will be interesting to see if we get many of the participants into our clinics... I'll keep you posted.

I think that if the organizers plan to make this an annual event that we should push for our continued participation; organizers and participants seemed to really appreciate our presence and support."