Student Organizations
Life at Adams School of Dentistry is one of involvement — involvement in classes, involvement with patients, and involvement with peers through student organizations.
Student Organizations and Chapters
Learn more about the ADEA Student Chapter at UNC.
Alpha Omega (AΩ) is an international dental organization that aims to:
- promote the profession of dentistry
- establish, foster and develop high standards of scholarship, leadership and character; to inculcate a spirit of fellowship amongst all its members
- create and bind together a body of professional people who, by scholarly attainments, faithful service and the maintenance of ethical ideals and principles, have achieved distinction
- honor achievement in others
- strive for breadth of vision, unity in action and accomplishment of ideals
- commend all worthy deeds and if fraternal welfare demands, to call and counsel with its members; to accept, sponsor and develop the cultural and traditional achievements of our faith
- build within our Fraternity a triangle, the base of which is Judaism, the supporting sides of professionalism and fraternalism
In addition to regular organization meetings, lunch and learns with guest speakers and community-service events, there is an interest meeting led by the AO executive board members held each year in the fall for potential new members to join.
The school’s AAPD chapter is centered around the world’s future leaders — the children. This organization is for anyone interested in pursuing pediatric dentistry or anyone who just loves children!
Some of the highlights of this organization are: visiting pediatric dental offices for tours; lunch and learns at school with pediatric dentists; social events with pediatric dentistry residents; helping with Give Kids A Smile — the school’s annual event to provide free oral health care for local children, post MATCH/application Q&A sessions and more.
We are the Adams School of Dentistry’s chapter of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD), formerly known as ENNEAD. The mission of the AAPHD is to provide leadership in ensuring optimal oral health for individuals and communities.
In addition to this, the goals of the AAPHD chapter are also to explore the role of public health in dentistry and to emphasize community service in our everyday lives. We fulfill these principles through Education, Service, and Advocacy.
Our past events have included Lunch and Learns with prominent faculty & public health affiliated dentists, shoreline cleanups, serving breakfast at SECU, teaching oral health education to various communities, and so much more. We also oversee school-wide events such as UNC’s participation in NC MOM and the annual DEAH Day of Service.
The AAWD’s mission is to continuing being the leading resource for advancing, connecting and enriching the lives of women dentists. The UNC AAWD chapter gives women dental students the opportunity to network, learn, and make invaluable professional connections and friendships. Men are also welcome to join!
Members may participate in study clubs and lunch-and-learns with a variety of female speakers on clinical, financial, and business knowledge topics. This a great networking opportunity for job prospects and residencies, and this knowledge gives students a boost to strive for success, equal footing, and respect in the ever-evolving world of dentistry.
We also host fun social events and philanthropy/community service events, including our annual fundraiser for the AAWD’s main philanthropic organization, Smiles for Success. Smiles for Success offers cost-free dental care to women graduates of accredited job readiness and placement programs or other community-based agencies.
UNC chapter members have the opportunity to attend Wake County AAWD meetings.
The UNC Asian Dental Student Organization (ADSO) was created to empower Asian students in the dental field, provide dental care through our mobile dentistry SMILE clinic, and create a fun environment for students to learn more about Asian culture.
We are NOT an Asian-exclusive group! This organization is for anyone interested in learning more about our culture (and eating yummy food).
Many student organizations at the Adams School of Dentistry focus on our common interest in dentistry. However, we all have rich lives outside of the school as well. The purpose of ABDC is to share our non-dental related passions with each other in a casual lecture-style format.
ABDC provides an avenue for students, faculty, and friends of the school to take a break from the details of dentistry and enjoy our lunch hour in low stakes, relaxing, informative, and engaging events.
Practice your public speaking skills and learn anything from “Beer Brewing, Styles, and Demystification” to “How to fix a toilet” as a member of the Anything But Dentistry Club!
We are the student representatives of the dental school and work with the Dental Foundation of North Carolina (DFNC) and the Offices of Admissions and Student Life as a bridge between the Adams School of Dentistry, alumni, donors, prospective students, and the community.
We give tours to prospective students, alumni, donors, and interviewees, and we work the DFNC events. BSA has no dues!
Joining BSA is a great way to give back to the dental school and get to know other students as well as people in administration and at the DFNC.
The BehaviOral Health Student Group will support students to improve their skills and increase their competence in treating patients dealing with mental health and substance use conditions through clinic, curriculum and community engagement initiatives. The group’s focus is the following:
- Improving behavioral health integration efforts in student clinics
- Increasing competence in the treatment of patients with mental health and substance use disorders through trainings with content experts and volunteer opportunities
- Improving community relationships with local behavioral health providers and PCPs with behavioral health services
In 2018, UNC Adams School of Dentistry students Ali-Raza Heydary, DDS ’20, and Minka Hotić, DDS ’19, established the DYOR clinic in Raleigh, NC, in honor of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha, who were planning a trip to Turkey to provide free dental care to Syrian refugees.
The DYOR clinic provides free oral health care to refugees and those displaced to North Carolina, as well as local underserved adults.
The clinic is primarily staffed by local volunteer dentists and dental hygienists through a collaboration with Wake Smiles, the charitable arm of the Raleigh-Wake County Dental Society, which provides the clinic’s equipment and facilities.
Dental student volunteers from the UNC Adams School of Dentistry assist the volunteer dentists in providing care at the nine clinics held each year, with more than $32,000 of free oral health care provided annually.
The clinic is funded by donations to Our Three Winners Foundation. A donation of $100 allows volunteers to provide free x-rays, fillings, cleanings, crowns and extractions for a patient. Make a gift online to support the clinic and its efforts.
If you’re interested in volunteering at the clinic, email dyorclinic@gmail.com. Learn more about Our Three Winners and the DYOR clinic.
Our mission is to bring together the pre-doctoral dental students at the University of North Carolina Adams School of Dentistry to share and exchange ideas related to the specialty field of endodontics. Our goal is to expose our members to different aspects of endodontics and diverse learning experiences in the field. We also aim to help create a network of colleagues who can aid and support our members on their journey to residency.
The Endodontic Interest Group is open all DDS students. Students are encouraged to like and follow the organization’s Facebook page.
The IPEP Dental School Group allows students to have intentional engagement with students in other professions across campus through educational and social events.
Some highlights of the organization include leading the “Debunk the Junk” event, where students discuss myths about various professions; participating in events at UNC professional schools such as movie night, Hurricane Simulation, Meet Your Neighbor, and Opioid Case Study; collaborating in Blending of the Blues, a UNC and Duke Interprofessional Event, and more!
LGBdenT was established to provide members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies a safe, accepting environment to connect and feel welcome in the Adams School of Dentistry.
We strive to equip our members with the knowledge to better serve their future patients through LGBT+ focused training and education that centers around diversity and inclusion. Further, through initiatives like the recently developed Equality Clinic, we are able to serve an otherwise overlooked population, breaking down barriers to care accessibility.
Unique to the ASoD and characteristic of the warm environment we aim to create, LGBdenT invites you to not only support your peers, but also engage in a better way to advocate for the community as a whole.
The Prosthodontics Interest Group at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry is an effort to expose students to and increase their interest in the specialty of prosthodontics.
Students with any level of interest in learning about prosthodontics are encouraged to join us for a Lunch and Learn to hear more about topics like digital dentures and CAD/CAM dentistry, surgical implant placement and restoration, advances in biomaterials, and maxillofacial prostheses replacing extraoral tissues such as eyes, ears, and noses.
There are so many exciting advances in the field of prosthodontics right now, and this group serves to engage students meaningfully with this specialty through our events, service opportunities, and mentorship—resident and faculty connections are easy to make as a member of the Prosthodontics Interest Group!
SCDA was formed to encompass hospital dentistry, dentistry for people with disabilities, and geriatric dentistry. The mission of SCDA is to be a resource for oral health professionals interested in serving patients with special needs and to increase access to oral healthcare for patients with special needs.
Special care in the eyes of the SCDA includes any health or lifestyle situation that may require additional consideration during dental treatment – this can range from hearing or vision impairments to acquired disabilities, old age, developmental or intellectual disabilities, chronic disease, etc.
We are excited to bring a chapter of SCDA to UNC so that dental students have the opportunity to learn to better serve all patients and to provide a much needed space for students to engage in conversations, experiences, and efforts to become more knowledgeable providers.
The Sports Dentistry Club puts together a variety of events centered around athletics and dentistry.
We host various sports tournaments for the dental school, volunteer with different organizations doing dentistry in an athletic environment, such as TeamSmile with the Carolina Panthers, and host learning sessions with different team dentists.
Some of our members go to the Academy of Sports Dentistry conference each year and even help make mouthguards for some of the Carolina teams.
If you enjoy sports and dentistry, this is the club for you!
The Spurgeon Dental Society is the UNC-CH Adams School of Dentistry student governmental body. It promotes the highest professional ideals and standards in preparation for the practice of dentistry and oversees student body organizations.
Spurgeon was founded in 1980 by DDS students. Membership is extended to students currently enrolled in the DDS, dental hygiene and dental assisting programs at the UNC-CH Adams School of Dentistry. Associate membership may be granted to students pursuing advanced dental education.
The organization is named in honor of the late Dr. J.S. Spurgeon of Hillsborough, NC, who is regarded as one of North Carolina’s most outstanding dentists.
This organization strives to enlighten and enrich those individuals, who possess business and/or entrepreneurial aspirations, within the dental industry.
Ultimately, this organization exists to develop successful leaders in dentistry, by aligning its members with industry professionals who can mentor, assist, and guide them in achieving the success they desire.
We put together numerous learning opportunities with people in all areas of the business behind dentistry to ensure our members are learning how to run a dental practice.
The AADR Student Research Group at the Adams School of Dentistry is a student supported organization whose main purpose is to foster the participation and interest in dental research.
The mission of the SRG is to promote the involvement of all students in dental research, cultivate awareness of research opportunities, facilitate participation in school research activities and guide students involved in research presentations and/or publications.
A student-led group of dental, dental hygiene and graduate students are working together to implement teledentistry intiatives at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry and across North Carolina.
Our primary goal is to educate the Adams School of Dentistry student body, based on evidence, about:
What policy changes need to be made in order for teledentistry to be successfully implemented in the state.
- The oral health crisis happening in North Carolina.
- Why teledentistry is a feasible option to deliver dental care to underserved populations.
- How to get involved in making teledentistry happen at UNC-Chapel Hill and in NC.