More than 500 students and faculty from A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) participated in the Ninth Annual Arizona Oral Cancer Walk at the Phoenix Zoo this month.

The event helps promote the school’s Dentistry in the Community program during Oral Cancer Awareness Month. 

Students and volunteer dentists also offered free oral cancer screenings to more than 100 people, and were able to raise more than $20,000 for the Oral Cancer Foundation, which is dedicated to oral cancer education, research and prevention. 

"Raising public awareness about the importance of oral cancer prevention and screening is as important as empowering dental health professionals to take responsibility for performing thorough oral cancer screenings on every patient at least once a year,” Mai-Ly Duong, an assistant professor at ATSU-ASDOH, said.

She also said the event has the added benefit of indirectly educating students on the value of service to the community.