SANFORD - The Central Carolina Community College Dental Programs have begun a new partnership with the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine's Community Service Learning Center in Lillington.

The CCCC dental hygiene and dental assisting students will begin working with ECU's dental students to care for patients. In fostering this important team approach, it leads to improving the future of all dental providers and ultimately improves the lives of patients.

"The partnership between the East Carolina University Community Service Learning Center and Central Carolina Community College Dental Programs serves as a unique opportunity to train dental, dental hygiene, and dental assisting students in a collaborative environment that simulates the dental team in practice while simultaneously improving the health and quality of life for underserved patients for years to come," said Lisa Godfrey, CCCC Dean of Health Sciences and Human Services. "This collaboration is the ultimate service learning experience as the team learning approach integrates community service with instruction to enrich the learning experience for students and strengthen the health of the community."

Michael Bradley, DDS, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Dentistry at the ECU School of Dental Medicine in Lillington, said the partnership is based on service. "I know that Central Carolina and our ECU School of Dental Medicine we live service," said Bradley. "We live service to each other, service to our patients, and service to the community. To have this relationship just increases that opportunity. It benefits our community. It benefits our staff. Mostly, it benefits our students in their training and our residents."

For more information on CCCC's Dental Programs, visit www.cccc.edu/dental.

For more information on the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine's Community Service Learning Center in Lillington, visit www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/dental/pc-lillington.cfm.