The University of New England’s Department of Dental Hygiene has been awarded Partnership of the Year by The Opportunity Alliance for its collaboration in providing no-cost dental care to low-income families in Greater Portland, Maine. The award was presented at The Opportunity Alliance’s RAISE Awards on October 17.

Since 2023, under the leadership of Garrett Richardson, students have offered dental services—including cleanings and fluoride treatments—at a Women, Infants, and Children clinic, according to a press release from the University of New England. This initiative primarily benefits children under 5 years, reaching 205 patients who would otherwise lack access to dental care. Notably, 185 participants have been connected to ongoing dental care.

Supported by the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northeast Delta Dental, the program also addresses language barriers, with about 65% of participants needing translation services. Mr. Richardson highlighted the educational and rewarding aspects of this collaboration.

“The collaboration between The Opportunity Alliance/[Women, Infants, and Children] and The University of New England’s Dental Hygiene program has provided our students with amazingly rich, culturally diverse service-learning opportunities,” Mr. Richardson underscored. “This collaboration has been equally as educational as it has been rewarding for our students and myself due to our ability as a program to overcome so many obstacles of inequity within our existing dental health care model,” he concluded.

The free dental service currently operates about 40 weeks annually during the academic year.