International Abroad Programs
Smiles Forever in partnership with Shoreline Community College
Program Summary
Shoreline Community College dental hygiene has had affiliation with Smiles Forever since 2011 when we did our first study abroad to Bolivia and partnered with Smiles Forever to do outreach clinicals together in Bolivia. We have done 5 total study abroads; 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, with intention to continue but were shut down due to pandemic. We have been working with Smiles Forever recently to start our study abroad trips back to Bolivia in the summer of 2025 and just returned from Bolivia this week where I worked with Smiles Forever to help set up new outreach program locations for future study abroad clinicals.
Join Shoreline Dental Hygiene instructor Katie Fleming on this unique service-learning program in Bolivia for Dental Hygiene students!
The program explores the connections between socio-economic factors and health outcomes in Bolivia. Bolivia is a country of staggering diversity, high economic disparity and urban and rural contrast. Access to healthcare in Bolivia is often inequitable. The itinerary explores the diversity of factors, including geography, education, economics, religion, and politics, that affect Bolivians’ health and access to health services. Through visits to the Smiles Forever Dental Clinic, service learning in urban and rural settings, visits to a respected university dental program, students will gain insight into the unique challenges and a variety of solutions to providing healthcare in Bolivia and similar socio-economically challenged places.
This program also includes visits to several cultural and natural points of interest!
Program Dates
General Program Introduction/Presentation - Fall Quarter 2024
Meeting(s) with Katie Fleming and interested students to discuss itineraries/potential travel plans - Fall Quarter 2024
Meeting(s) with Katie Fleming and interested students to discuss itineraries/solidify travel plans – beginning of Winter Quarter 2025
Travel program tentatively scheduled for late August-early September 2025; total days of travel approximately 18 days
Eligibility
Dental Hygiene students or graduates who have completed a minimum of three quarters of a US Dental Hygiene program (at time of travel). Application process includes completion of an online form, statement of interest, and a letter of support from a faculty member.
Programs
Dental Hygiene training program
Our two-year vocational dental hygiene training program allows young indigenous Bolivian women the opportunity to study in a half-day training program, and to work for the other part of the day to support themselves and (in some cases) their children. Each of our students is fully supported by scholarship.
Lectures have been developed by dental hygienists and professors of dental hygiene from the United States, and are continually revised and updated. One to two days a week, students receive lectures from Bolivian dentists and hygienists. The rest of the week is spent with hands-on training in the fee-for-service dental clinic (see below). Students work with patients to provide dental cleanings, home-care instruction, x-rays and dental sealants. These services are provided through our fee-for-service clinic and community partners, allowing trainees the opportunities to improve their clinical skills.
Following graduation, all students are supported in securing full-time job placement. Graduates have aspired to go even further by becoming dentists through the public University in Cochabamba. Currently four graduates - one dentist and three hygienists - have returned to work in the dental program at Smiles Forever. Three graduates are attending dental school in Cochabamba at thepublic University of San Simo.
In 2013, the original dental clinic at the Madre de Dios homeless shelter closed its doors. Since then, Smiles Forever has relocated and embraced the challenge to offer free dental and restorative services by partnering with 27 other nonprofits, shelters, and foundations in the Cochabamba area.
Partnering with local organizations allows us to reach many needy children and adults throughout Bolivia, and to date, we have served more than 37,000 people.
Learn more about our partners here
Some of our local partners include:
Mosoi Punchay is a burn center for children, offering physiological support and physical therapy to children who have been badly burnt
Ninos con Valor helps children who have been affected by AIDS
Casa de Amistad is a day shelter for children living with their parents in jail
Public fee-for-service clinic
Our public, fee-for-service clinic provides provide professional dental cleanings and top quality restorative dental care to the people of Cochabamba. All patients receive dental cleanings and are advised to return on a three- to six-month basis for exams and cleaning as needed. Patients pay for dental services, and these fees support our dental hygiene training program and free community outreach programs. Additionally, senior hygiene students work in the clinic as part of their coursework before they graduate.
We offer all dental service services to the general public. Contact us for information about dental services.