The Dental Trade Alliance Foundation (DTA) and Procter & Gamble selected fourth-year DMD student Sarah Specht as one of this year's recipients of its $5,000 scholarship. The DTA Foundation Scholarships are awarded annually to dental students who display outstanding commitment to community service endeavors and academic excellence in dentistry.

Specht's passion for serving others stems from enduring her own hardships. "My dad died from cancer when I was very young; my mom had no job, no education and two girls to raise. When you come from an underprivileged background, it helps you appreciate the little things and it lets you know the impact that you can have on someone when you genuinely care and contribute to their well-being," she said.

From her first year as a dental student, Specht has been actively and heavily involved in a number of outreach programs and projects. In 2014 she began volunteering with Mission Lexington and UKCD Saturday Morning Clinics — both initiatives to provide free dental treatment to uninsured and low-income residents in the Lexington area. Throughout the past two years, she has traveled across Central Kentucky to provide preventative oral health education to children in various community classes and Head Start programs. Specht has even crossed international boundaries to participate in service projects. In March, she traveled to Santo Domingo, Ecuador as part of a Shoulder to Shoulder Global health brigade. In just one week, Specht and the rest of the multidisciplinary team provided treatment to over 400 patients.

Specht’s altruism extends far beyond dentistry. She currently volunteers at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, where she teaches and tutors elementary math. Additionally, Specht is a member of the local chapter of Days for Girls — a nonprofit organization that provides health education and sustainable feminine hygiene solutions to women and girls around the world.

“I want to help wherever I am; community service doesn’t end here in dental school. There are always people in need, whether it’s here in Kentucky or a thousand miles away,” Specht said.

Specht is the first UK College of Dentistry student to receive this honor. “Receiving the DTA Scholarship means so much to me. After all of the efforts I have put into my studies and into serving my community, it is an incredible honor.”

About the Dental Trade Alliance

The DTA exists to broaden awareness of oral health’s impact on overall health and increase access to oral health care. By embracing core values of oral health, stewardship and enduring positive impact, the DTA seeks to unite the dental industry to create and attract innovative solutions, and expand resources to fund promising initiatives that achieve measurable impact.