{"id":253381,"date":"2026-09-24T10:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=253381"},"modified":"2026-09-24T10:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:48:14","slug":"serving-those-whove-served","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/09\/serving-those-whove-served\/","title":{"rendered":"Serving Those Who\u2019ve Served"},"content":{"rendered":"

Access to oral healthcare can be a significant hurdle for many veterans. Most veterans currently enrolled in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system are ineligible for VA dental benefits because they do not have service-connected dental issues. To help address this issue, students in the School of Dental Medicine recently provided free oral health screenings and education to nearly 250 veterans in Connecticut during a statewide event.<\/p>\n

\"group
The students with Mayor Caroline Simmons at the Stamford location.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The students in the Military Interest Group participated in the 2026 Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Stand Down event\u2014a daylong event that connects Connecticut veterans with essential services and programs offered by federal, state, and local agencies, organizations, and nonprofits. Over 25 students and faculty were stationed at five locations: Bridgeport, Bristol, Danbury, Norwich, and Stamford.<\/p>\n

This is the third year that the School of Dental Medicine has participated in the event. The students, alongside faculty, perform oral health screenings, give out educational resources, and provide toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I can say that having done this event for three years in a row, it has been one of my best volunteer experiences. It really is a meaningful experience to see the people that sacrificed so much get so many necessary types of assistance in one place,\u201d said Marley Esch, a third-year dental student.<\/p>\n

Second-year student Jack Donlon noted that each location had about 50 veterans stop by for either screenings or to receive dental resources and oral health information. The dental school\u2019s booth was \u201cdefinitely one of the busiest booths.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed the veterans were happy to gather in one place and share stories and memories. They were all very friendly, polite, and in high spirits,\u201d Donlon said.<\/p>\n

Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves spoke with the students at the Danbury location, and expressed gratitude for the students’ involvement.<\/p>\n

\"patient
Students provide resources to veterans during the event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are so excited that the UConn School of Dental Medicine is here helping dozens of veterans,\u201d said Alves. \u201cWe are so grateful for the services they provide. There are veterans who come here and don’t even realize these services exist for them<\/span>. You can imagine the cost savings, but also what it does for overall health. I look forward to the students coming back next year\u2014 excited to be here and serve those who served us<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

For students, the opportunity to attend Stand Down is an invaluable learning experience.<\/p>\n

“Participating in the Veterans Stand Down Event gives our UConn dental students a meaningful opportunity to serve directly in the community,\u201d said Dr. Sarita Arteaga, associate dean for students. \u201cThrough oral health screenings, resources, and education, students gain direct insight into the unique oral health needs of our veteran population while providing\u00a0care\u00a0and support to those who have made significant sacrifices for our country. These experiences also allow UConn dental students to represent the School of Dental Medicine and extend its mission of service and community engagement across the state in these various venues.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn dental participates in statewide Stand Down veterans event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":253388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2166,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2177],"class_list":["post-253381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sdm","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-01 13:21:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253381"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253400,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253381\/revisions\/253400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/253388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253381"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=253381"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=253381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}