[Brandy Wolford, Mother]: My youngest, he was very scared. He had never been to the dentist. 

[Intro Graphic]: For Ohioans: Miami County

[Brandy Wolford]: Now with Dr. Keira, it was like she took him under her wing and was like, 'You're my child. Here, now let me show you: this is what we're gonna do, step by step by step by step.' And now he's just, every time he goes, comes in there, he gets up in the chair and just sits there and waits like a champ.

[Dr. Keira Ankrom ’17, Dentist, Miami County Dental Clinic; Graduate, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry]: At the Miami County Dental Clinic, we see about 30 patients a day. That is only possible because we have the OHIO Project students from Ohio State. 

[Text]: The Ohio State University College of Dentistry’s OHIO Project sends dental students to outreach sites across Ohio, developing future dentists and providing care to those who need it most.

[Dr. Keira Ankrom]: Over half of our patients, I would say, do not have any dental insurance. And so the fact that we can get that many patients in the door and treatment completed for them is huge.

[Brandy Wolford]: I always ask a lot of questions. Without them, I don't know where I would be at with getting the treatment for the boys and getting their dental care done.

[Dr. Keira Ankrom]: The OHIO Project experience for me at Ohio State made me more aware of the need that is in our community that so many people don't realize is there. If these OHIO Project students, if they can take a little bit of that empathy with them into whatever practice setting they go into, that would mean the world to me. It would mean I, not only did I do my job taking care of the patient, but I did my job helping the future dentists be the best they can be.

[Text]: Since 2003, every fourth-year dental student has completed 43 days of outreach, enabling 210,000 patient visits and 510,000 procedures and delivering over $25 million in care to date.

[Brandy Wolford]: I was just like, I felt like I was part of the family and so did my children. It's really meant a great deal. Before you couldn't get him to smile and now he just smiles and shows off his pearly whites and everything. And I'm just, I'm so proud of it.

[Closing Graphic]: The Ohio State University