Milestone Achievement

Hunt School of Dental Medicine Welcomes Fourth of Four Inaugural Classes

Texas Tech Health El Paso’s dental school now has a full complement of future smile heroes

The Hunt School of Dental Medicine's journey comes full circle as it welcomes its fourth cohort, completing the first cycle of graduate education that’s setting a new standard for compassionate, bilingual care in our U.S.-Mexico border region.

That’s part of why first-year dental student Ariana Ramirez chose to attend dental school in her hometown. She was drawn to the Hunt School of Dental Medicine’s unique curriculum, including mandatory Spanish language courses and working with patients within her first semester.

“Here, I’ll get to see my patients continuously,” she said. “I get to build relationships that matter, which I value. I can’t think of a more rewarding career.”

One of sixty new dental students from the class of 2028, Ramirez arrived on the El Paso campus on a warm July summer day. Rather than entering air-conditioned classrooms, Ramirez and her fellow freshly minted dental students fanned out in teams across El Paso County, clipboards in hand.

Their task: Get to know the needs of the residents living in several historically underserved communities around El Paso County.

This initiation rite, first practiced by their peers four years earlier, welcomed them to one of the nation’s newest and most innovative dental schools, a school that requires them to get to know their future Borderplex patients first.

Reaching a milestone

The class of 2028 marks a significant milestone in the young school's history, which opened its doors in 2021.

For first-year dental student Meril Saied of El Paso, July has been a whirlwind of immersion events, from orientation to community outreach. Born in Egypt, Saied moved to El Paso with her parents as a child. Even after living in El Paso for 10 years, Saied, like most of her classmates, was unfamiliar with the lives of many living in the colonias of our Borderplex region.

“In Egypt, we never really had dental checkups,” she said. “I didn't know that was a thing. The same here in El Paso. Both cultures share the belief, ‘I don’t need to see a dentist unless it's an emergency.’”

The school’s faculty knows only too well that it will have to address these cultural concerns head-on.

“The Class of 2028 represents not just the completion of our first full academic cycle but also the future of dental care,” said Richard Black, D.D.S., M.S., dean of the Hunt School of Dental Medicine. “Like the three classes that came before them, each student in this class will work directly with patients from their first semester until their last. They’ll engage in research. They’ll be ready to meet the unique needs of every community.”

Of the 60 students in the new class:

- 57% are first-generation college students.

- 63% are multilingual.

- 52% of the class comes from West Texas and the Texas border region.

- 10 individuals from El Paso County and Southern New Mexico.

An innovative program like no other in North America

The Hunt School of Dental Medicine’s innovative dental education program has quickly made an impression. Its curriculum, including the summer immersion program, requires first-year students to treat patients their first semester — two years ahead of most other dental schools. This hands-on approach, combined with rigorous simulation lab training, ensures that students not only master handwork skills, a critical skill for dentists, but also develop early and meaningful patient relationships.

The students will meet their first patients at the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic just a few months after starting school. The clinic has provided over 6,000 low-cost dental exams and procedures since it opened to the public in 2021. With a full complement of 221 students who span four dental classes, Hunt School of Dental Medicine students are poised to provide nearly 60,000 clinical hours of oral care annually.

Along with learning the language of dentistry, students also spend time learning the language of many of their patients.

The school’s inclusion of mandatory Spanish language courses reflects its commitment to preparing students for the growing need for bilingual care. With the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. projected to reach 111.2 million by 2060, Hunt School of Dental Medicine graduates will be equipped to address the needs of underserved communities, particularly in regions along our U.S.-Mexico border where access to dental care is limited.

“Our curriculum ensures that our graduates are not only skilled clinicians but also compassionate caregivers,” said Dr. Black.

Ramirez understands the school’s vital mission thanks to an internship with El Paso’s Department of Public Health, which ignited her passion for dentistry.

"At the clinic, I was asked to work in dental care, which had the greatest need," Ramirez recalls. "The dental clinic was for kids. Once they reached 18, they had nowhere else to go for free care. That started my interest in dentistry."

Experiencing the realities of El Paso’s communities during their orientation sparked student-led initiatives to improve health care awareness.

As Ramirez observed during her interviews, "For underserved communities, it’s hard for many who work eight to five, worrying about bills and kids, to schedule an appointment.”

Saied and her team agreed.

“We propose to hold field days and parent workshops at middle and high schools around the Horizon City area,” Saied shared. “This will allow us to educate the population about the resources available to them."

A brighter future

As the Hunt School of Dental Medicine grows, it will continue to address the dentist shortage in underserved communities along our U.S.-Mexico border. Each new class is poised to build on this legacy, helping to ensure that all communities, regardless of socioeconomic status, have access to quality dental care.

The seating of the Class of 2028 marked another milestone. The graduation for the inaugural cohort, the Class of 2025, is only a few short months away.

Saied and Ramirez will follow in the footsteps of this year’s class in four short years. Like many of their homegrown peers, they plan on remaining here in our Borderplex region as future health care leaders, helping to address the region’s critical provider shortage.

About Texas Tech Health El Paso

Texas Tech Health El Paso is the only health sciences center on the U.S.-Mexico border and serves 108 counties in West Texas that have been historically underserved. It’s a designated Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution, preparing the next generation of health care heroes, 48% of whom identify as Hispanic and are often first-generation students.

Established as an independent university in 2013, Texas Tech Health El Paso is a proudly diverse and uniquely innovative destination for education and research.

With a mission of eliminating health care barriers and creating life-changing educational opportunities for Borderplex residents, Texas Tech Health El Paso has graduated over 2,400 doctors, nurses and researchers over the past decade, and will add dentists to its alumni beginning in 2025. For more information, visit ttuhscepimpact.org.

About the Hunt School of Dental Medicine

The only dental school along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Hunt School of Dental Medicine opened in 2021, and is the first in Texas in more than 50 years. The dental school offers the most innovative curriculum in the country, preparing students for the future of dentistry with high-tech simulation and an advanced fabrication laboratory. A first for any dental school in the nation, students begin clinical training and patient interaction during their first semester. It’s also the first and only dental school in the nation that requires Spanish language courses.