Faculty of Dentistry: On the campaign trail

While $20 million is an ambitious goal, we have ambitious plans for the future of oral health-care education in our region. Donor support for this campaign will enhance opportunities for students to flourish as highly competent, culturally aware, and collaborative health professionals. It will enable our researchers to deliver health outcomes that have an impact in Canada and around the world. It will encourage more diversity within our professions and expand outreach initiatives, so we can have an even greater impact on our communities.  

Here’s a snapshot of what philanthropy will make possible through Bringing Worlds Together, Dalhousie's campaign for transformational change.

Inspiring future-ready leaders

Current students are future community leaders. Increased support for scholarships and bursaries will fuel student success and alleviate the growing financial burden associated with becoming an oral health practitioner. As the cost of living rises alongside tuition costs, many students are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in the pursuit of their education. Campaign funding will help students in financial need by creating bursaries and wrap-around supports for students from equity-deserving groups.

This campaign will enable the expansion of pre-clinical spaces in which students and alumni practise and upgrade their skills, enabling class sizes to grow.

Campaign funding will also enable us to invest in more fast-changing digital dentistry technologies, recruit and mentor students from equity-deserving populations, provide more opportunities for our students to collaborate with other health professions, and support student research.

Engaging in high-impact research

Faculty and student research improves health incomes in our communities.

Biomaterials are revolutionizing the way we treat diseases, and our team is a global leader in this field. Support for our campaign will fund a chair in translational research, biomaterials research projects, and create a lab space where biomaterials researchers, students, clinicians, and partners can work together on next-generation technologies.

Funding will also be used to enhance our oral cancer research facilities and introduce a new graduate student training and awards program. In addition, we will expand our oral health research for priority populations, including Indigenous and African Nova Scotian populations, people with special needs, and the frail elderly to improve evidence-based care.

Lifting our communities

The Faculty of Dentistry’s many outreach programs provide excellent dental care to thousands of patients each year, including many who would not otherwise have access to these services.

Campaign support will make it possible to expand our community outreach and partnerships, strengthen their sustainability, and create opportunities to provide oral health care to more patients in need.

We will increase funding in community engagement and outreach, which will help to attract leaders in the field and increase our number of patients who face barriers to care. Enhanced services, such as accessible equipment and a patient navigator, will help our patients and communities.

Thanks to generous donor funding, we created two surgical suites that are equipped to deliver care under deep sedation or general anesthesia to up to 250 patients a year. Facilities such as these are essential for treating adults with severe disabilities and special needs, and for paediatric patients. Campaign funding will allow us to hire dedicated staff, such as a nurse, patient navigator, and dental assistant, for this vital program.

Funding will provide the resources to renovate the entrance and lobby of the Dentistry Building to improve comfort, safety, and accessibility for all patients.